


Crime and Passion in Via Solaris

by ruff_ethereal



Category: Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero
Genre: Asexual!Boone, Consensual Underage Sex, Demon Sex, Demons, Dom/sub, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, Gen, Master/Slave, Nipple Piercings, Oral Sex, Rogue!Penn, Sexual Humor, Succubus!Sashi, Teenage Drama, Underage Sex, Violence, Wizard!Boone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-21 14:24:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4832525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruff_ethereal/pseuds/ruff_ethereal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the city of Via Solaris, commerce and crime rule the day, the streets filled as much with honest businessmen and labourers as much as conniving con artists and pickpockets. Anything can happen within its walls, they say--the sultana's loyal vizier may be secretly planning a coup on her, a trio of wandering heroes just happen to come along in time to save her, and friendships can quickly get put to the test in the most unexpected (but not necessarily unpleasant) of ways...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings:  
> \- Consensual Underage Sex  
> \- Master/Slave  
> \- Nipple Piercings  
> \- Demons  
> \- Oral Sex  
> \- Female Submission/Male Domination (Consensual)  
> \- Violence  
> \- Sexual Humor  
> \- First Time Sex  
> \- Drama

“Something wrong, Master?” Sashi asked.

“Oh, plenty of things,” Penn wanted to say. “First up, there's the fact you haven't seemed to have _completely_ replaced your new form today; second, you're basically naked because those clothes _definitely_ aren't hiding anything; and three, you're calling me Master for some weird reason, and it's confusing me, worrying me, and _really_ turning me on all at the same time.”

As his voice had suddenly left him and all the blood was rushing from his brain to down between his legs, however, he just found himself silently staring at Sashi, mouth agape. If he had to describe her new appearance in a nutshell, it would be: “Regular her, except hotter and a demon.”

Her tan skin had acquired a rather alluring luster, looking smooth and supple but for the clearly defined and toned muscle all over her body. Her demonic features were obvious, little to no attempt made to hide them: there were sharp looking hooves for feet; gleaming claws at her fingertips; a thick and powerful tail with a spade-shaped tip idly swaying about behind her; powerful bat-like wings folded neatly on her back; and long, thick, sharp horns spiraling upwards and back over her head, the perfect shape to gore someone.

… Or hold onto from behind.

Penn quickly lowered his gaze. Her hair had gained a clearly supernatural vigour, thick and luxurious, her pigtails now braids with the purple and gold tips gleaming in with an almost mesmerizing light. Her specs remained the same, as they always did, but the chocolate eyes below it had taken on a golden hue, a striking colour that Penn could stare at all day if it weren't for the rest of Sashi making an equally compelling bid for his gaze.

Her clothes—if you could call it that—were barely covering anything; it seemed demons in this dimension didn't need much in the way of cover. About the only articles she had on a red, silky vest that was small enough to show off her bare and very muscular mid-riff, tight enough to hug her breasts and give her some impressive cleavage, and just covering enough to make it teasing but not trying too hard; and a matching pair of silken panties showing off her finely toned rear and her muscular thighs—they were almost a thong, really, but Penn decided not to find out on purpose.

“Might want to check the specs, Sash.” Boone said, unaffected by his friend's new, vastly more attractive, and _very_ scantily dressed form.

Sashi sighed. “Fine, it might answer my question, anyway.” She pressed the button, and a hologram projected itself out onto the arid, desert air.

“Master is a semi-famous rogue, I'm his loyal succubus slave, Boone is a wizard,  and together, we're a band of wandering heroes here to save the Sultana of of Via Solaris from its evil vizier, who is planning to overthrow her in a coup come midnight, or otherwise force her to abdicate the throne.

Penn blinked. “Wait, you're my _what?”_

Sashi calmly shut off her specs. “Your loyal succubus slave, Master, look.” She replied calmly. “Look.” She reached in front of her and started undoing the clasps of her vest. Before Penn or Boone could protest, she shrugged it off her shoulders, turning around before either of them could see her breasts, and showing off a glowing, magical symbol branded on the skin between her wings: a zero much like the one on Penn's shirt.

Penn relaxed.

Then Sashi turned around without putting her vest back up, showing off her chest and the similarly designed piercings on each of her nipples. “See? All Master's.” She said without the slightest hint of embarrassment or shame.

Penn was now very much _not_ relaxed.

Boone stared nonchalantly, almost completely unaffected. Penn closed his eyes, but the image was forever burned into his mind. Sashi calmly clipped her vest back together, a small, teasing smile on her face.

“Okay, let's find out where Via Solaris is and save the Sultana!” Penn cried before he opened his eyes again and started looking around, pointedly avoiding the direction Sashi was in.

They were on the side of a desert road, nothing but a vast expanse of sand for miles on end, broken up only by the occasional tree, rock, a few green oases, and in the distance, a massive river that angled sharply from the horizon towards a single direction.

He followed the water and eventually saw the walls of a massive city, impressive and intimidating; they were so high little could be seen of what lay inside. Magnificent spires and towers rose high above them and into the air, the skyline crowned by a massive dome in the center of it all.

“Welp, that looks like Via Solaris.” He said as he pointed to it. “Let's see what we'll have to work with today...”

He looked down at himself. He was wearing leather armour, well-worn thick gloves, and a matching pair of well-traveled boots. He had a hook in a holster on the front of his belt, and a quick examination revealed a trigger and buttons almost seamlessly carved into the handle. He aimed it away from them and fired. The head shot off into the distance on a chain, before hitting a rock and firmly latching onto it. He pressed the first button, the hook quickly retracted into the hilt and took the rock along with it. The head came back into its handle with a soft click, he pressed the other button, and the hook disengaged, letting the rock fall to the ground.

“This is gonna be useful...” He muttered before he examined his other weapon: a double-barreled crossbow with a collapsible stock. It was small enough to be fired one-handed, while the other stabilized it or was busy elsewhere. Three boxes were clipped along the rear of his belt, each humming with distinct, differently coloured auras; his hand hovered over each and found that one felt cold and frosty, another hot and burning, the last thick and revolting.

He quickly memorized which box contained what ammo as he looked over at Boone. “Boone, what did you get?”

“Lots of random junk!” Boone replied as he held up three items: a weasel idol with glowing eyes, an ancient looking scroll, and a bone necklace with intricate carvings on the pendant. “I think they're all magical, though, so it's all good!” He stuffed them back into the numerous pockets in his robes, the well-worn bags and satchels hanging all over him, or into the massive, scraggly beard on his face.

Penn gave him a thumbs up, and turned to Sashi. “And Sash, what did you get?”

Sashi smiled. “Nothing.” She spread out her wings and started hovering over the air, silently and smoothly gliding around and about her friends with impressive speed. She casually reached out to Penn's face, letting her claws barely rake against his cheek and leave light, playful scratches on his skin, before her tail snapped out from behind her and stole his hook right off his belt. “I don't think I'll need anything more, though~” She purred as she expertly tossed the weapon into her claw, before she bowed in front of Penn and offered it up to him, eyes turned up and a smile on her face, chest angled just so to give him a great view down her cleavage.

Penn stared. Boone coughed. Penn quickly took his hook back and shoved it into its holster once more, eyes wrenching away from Sashi towards Via Solaris. Sashi glared at Boone as she bent back up.

“I'm guessing that Rippen's the vizier, which means that we'll probably get arrested as soon as we get within sight.” Penn said quickly. “We're going to either sneak in, talk a good talk, or fight and run all the way from the gates to the palace.”

“Whatever your choice, I'll be with you all the way, Master.” Sashi said as she calmly glided beside Penn and clung to his arm, pressing herself much closer to him than necessary.

Penn blushed and conspicuously kept his gaze locked on the city in the distance. “… _Actually,_ now that I've said it out loud, sneaking in seems to be the best option. Me and Boone are gonna get disguises and walk in through the gates, you fly over the walls and keep yourself hidden, then we all figure out how to save the sultana and stop Rippen..”

Sashi blinked, the expression on her face going from surprised, to betrayed, then resigned.

“Well, you can fly, and it's gonna be kind of hard to disguise your… you know...” Penn awkwardly gestured to Sashi, eyes flicking back to her for a second. “… Everything.”

Sashi slowly let go of Penn's arm with a heavy sigh, her claws trailing on his skin and leaving more of those light, tingling scratches—ones he was starting to like, he realized. “As you wish, Master. Shall I keep watch over you two from the shadows?”

Penn nodded. “Yeah, I'd feel a lot safer with you watching out for the both of us.” He smiled at her for a moment, before wrenching his head back to Via Solaris.

Sashi smiled back, however briefly. “Shall I leave now, Master?”

“Go on ahead; we're heading in through the big front gates and hide in the crowds as much as possible.”

Sashi spread her wings again. “See you later, then, Master.” She said before she blasted off into the air and towards the city.

Penn waited until the dust had cleared and she was _well_ out of hearing range before turning to Boone. “Uh, Boone, do you have any idea what _that_ was all about?”

Boone shrugged. “Can't really say for sure, sorry.”

Penn frowned. “It's fine. Welp, no sense standing here and waiting; let's get some disguises, and _save Via Solaris!”_ He cried as he dramatically pointed at the city.

Boone coughed, a hand pointing downwards and at Penn. He looked and saw that there was a different part of him also pointing at the city. With a yelp, his hands quickly flew over it.

Boone looked away and started digging into his pockets, looking for materials for disguises. They ended up coating Penn's hair in mud; threw on large cloaks and scarves to conceal the colour of their skin most of their bodies, and weapons; then headed down the road to the city.

* * *

Via Solaris was the stuff of Arabian legend, a bustling metropolis in the middle of the desert. Its high walls were packed to the brim with square mud brick buildings; dotted with beautiful spiraling towers, vibrant vegetation from tall trees, to flowers of all colours, to lush parks full of soft grass; and at the center of it all a massive, grand palace whose dome seemed to be as much a part of the sky as the sun blazing down upon the city.

Via Solaris was alive, people and activity filled the streets, barely a quiet place to be found anywhere. Merchants under colourful awnings hawked their wares and enticed people to their colourful shops and displays; artisans, smiths, and weavers were hard at work at their tables, pounding gold, cutting jewelry, or turning fine silk into beautiful cloth; labourers hauled wagons and pack animals along the streets; children played in the alleys, in the houses, and on the roofs; adults conversed in the shade, strolled about, or just laid back and slept, all oblivious or used to the cacophony of sounds around them.

The Solarians themselves were no less colourful and diverse. The locals went about their business with their burnt brown, tan, caramel, and olive skin going about in the searing white hot sun as if it were nothing, heads of black hair sometimes covered, sometimes not; tall, muscular, brutish men and women of dark brown to pure black skin purposefully striding through the streets or standing as silent, ever-present sentinels, thick, curly hair on their heads if they weren't left bald; a foreigner suffered miserably under the heat while they tried to deal with a merchant, the colours of their hair the colour of the others skin; and on a bench nearby, a red-skinned woman with dark brown hair regaled nearby children with tales of faraway lands and her own adventures.

(And this wasn't even getting into demons or non-human beings going about their business along with them, their colours, forms, and features composed of everything humans can imagine and many more they couldn't.)

Finally, Via Solaris was unabashed, unashamed, and quietly proud of its vices. Unassuming people with thick cloaks around their shoulders discretely beckoned you to shady alleys with promises, choice words, and glints and peeks into their merchandise; in entire districts, money flowed freely like the words, laughter, and liquor, coins exchanging hands almost as quickly as bets were made and the bettors glasses and tankards were refilled. In quieter, more private streets, beautiful women in fine clothing beckoned passersby, their flawless skin glimmering in the light, catching people's attention with the gestures of their hands and choice shows of their beautiful forms, before the sounds of their voices drew some closer. Down a few blocks more, their male counterparts did a similar performance with different moves but the same hypnotic effect, and between them, down an alley, and a small maze, their more gender-ambiguous fellows made similar displays.

Penn had to admit: the sights, the sounds, and the offers were tempting, but he never strayed or stayed still for too long, quickly resuming his walk down the streets, with a few quick apologies given and gentle force to shoo the more persistent offers and merchants. Boone himself was constantly distracted by the sounds and smells of sizzling meat, oil frying alongside beans and assorted vegetables, and freshly baked bread, but Penn was always there to pull him away from the _many_ food stands and restaurants in the city.

It might have been because of his strong sense of morals, the sometimes questionable nature of business in Via Solaris, or his dedication to the mission… or it might have been the pair of chocolate-gold eyes he could feel staring at him through the shadows, noticeably growing more intense whenever a woman would try to entice and seduce him.

The two of them walked for what felt like hours, going down streets, through alleyways, across bridges, flowing down the canals on rafts, walking under the arches of the aqueducts, and once, on the back of a boar over a deep trench that was being excavated in the middle of the street. Sashi followed after them the whole time, never losing track as she ducked and zoomed from cover to cover, unseen and unheard but for a mysterious breeze that was quickly dismissed.

The sun kept on beating down on them, proud and merciless while it still made its way through the sky. Their heads were starting to swim from all the different sights, sounds, and smells, all of Via Solaris starting to fuse together in a giant haze that was starting to give all of them headaches. And to make matters worse, the palace or any sort of clear way to it remained elusive, even if they could always somehow see the magnificent and imposing sight in the distance.

“Dude, can we talk a break?” Boone said. “I think my flip-flops are starting to wear out.”

A swarm of sandal salespersons suddenly descended on them like hungry pigeons. When the last of them had been shooed off and their pockets were suddenly lighter by a few coins and lesser valuables, Penn replied, “Yeah… feels like we're just going in circles at this point.”

He gestured at Sashi in the shadows, and the three of them to dark, shaded alley. They ignored the other inhabitants and didn't infringe on their space, and they did the same to them, not one batting an eyelash as Penn and Boone slumped against the walls and Sashi quietly hovered above them.

“We've wasted a lot of time trying to navigate this city from the ground level;” Sashi said. “I say we cause some trouble, get Rippen and the others to arrest us, then fight our way out of jail—at least we'll be _in_ the palace instead of out here.”

Boone frowned. “Is there anything else we can do? I've seen some of those guards, they're _really_ scary just standing there, so I _really_ don't want to see them mad.”

Sashi rolled her eyes. “Oh, sure, how about we just walk up to the guards and ask them how to get to the palace instead? 'Why are we asking? Oh, we're just here to save your sultana from a coup d'etat, that's all.'”

A light bulb went off above Penn. “… That's a great idea, actually, thanks Sash!” He looked out the alley and tried to find a guard.

Sashi shot him a look. “Master, forgive me for saying this, but isn't that—I don't know-- _stupid_? You said it yourself: Rippen must have told the guards on high alert for any sign of us. We might as well get a gauge of how good they are in a fight if we're turning ourselves in like that.”

“But we don't look like us ourselves right now, do we?” Penn countered. “There might be a chance they won't recognize us, we can get directions to the castle, and still not have our cover blown!”

Sashi scowled. “I still don't like this plan, Master...”

“How about you guys watch here from the alley, and if things go south, you guys swoop in and save me.” Penn offered. “Sound good?”

Boone nodded. “I'll get some magical junk ready, just in case!” He said as he pulled out a pouch of powder, a globe with liquid inside it, and a menacing looking idol.

Sashi scowled and looked away. “… Fine.” She looked back at Penn, her eyes softening. “But be careful out there, Master.”

Penn looked up at Sashi, and smiled. “I'll be fine, Sash. Don't worry. Besides, I'm just asking a guard for directions, what can happen?”


	2. Chapter 2

Dozens of sharp, pointy weapons, guns, and crossbows surrounded Penn from almost every angle, each hilt, trigger, and pole held by an equally dangerous looking guard of varied descriptions but the same intimidating aura. He smiled hopefully at their humourless expressions, before slowly raising his arms in surrender.

In the alley, Sashi's eyes widened and her wings readied themselves to blast head-on into the fray. Penn quickly shot her a look, one the guards miraculously didn't notice. She balked, but stopped herself, scowling and casting them daggers from the alley. Beside her, Boone readied his random magical junk.

“Uh… it illegal to ask for directions here in Via Solaris?” Penn asked.

“Not usually, but the vizier has told us to be on the alert for someone like you,” said Fadilah, captain of the guard. “Clearly first-time visitors, aimlessly wandering about without clear goal, composed of a fat one with sandals on his feet, a tiny angry one with glass over her eyes, and one with a head of flaming red hair that runs wild and uncontrollable. I would say you and your companion earlier fit the description close enough to be suspects, at the least.” The rows of weapons backed off some. “Come with us, stranger, and hail or deliver us to your companions. Do not worry, we only wish to question you.”

Though Penn had already been sweating from the heat, Fadilah still noticed when it was suddenly from nervousness.

“Why do you panic, stranger?” She murmured. “Should you be innocent, you will be recompensed for our mistake, as is law. Should you be guilty...” The guards around her cracked quick, predatory smirks, before resuming their stoic expressions.

“Look, guys, I really think this is all just a coincidence,” Penn said. “Look, my hair's wild, but it's not even red!” He slowly reached up to unclasp the cloak that was keeping most of his hair hidden but a few curls that refused to be contained. Some of the guards looked at his head, others looked at his hands, and the rest kept their eyes firmly on his neck. The cloak was removed and was quickly taken away, leaving Penn's hair completely exposed—wild, curly, but a distinctly muddy, sandy brown.

“See?” Penn said. “Not red.”

“We'll see about that.” Fadilah said as the weapons lowered and the guards started frisking his pockets and confiscated his hook and crossbow. “Someone ruffle him up!”

One of the guards cried out as Sashi rocketed from the alley and her sharp hooves into their back. The other spun around, meeting face-first blasts of itching powder, splashes of oil that would make it feel like flaming ants were crawling all over their skin, and a very different sort of suffering from the idol. Penn reached behind him to one of his ammo boxes, drew out a green bead, and threw it into the ground.

_Boom._

The three heroes emerged from a thick, noxious haze, Penn's weapons back in his hands, a good chunk of guards busy gagging, frantically scratching themselves, or awkwardly running off to find a change of pants. “Sound the alarm!” Fadilah cried, before she accidentally inhaled a mouthful of the mist, and started gagging.

The frantic ringing of many bells filled the air, panic erupted through the streets of Via Solaris. Towers opened their windows as guards with wings or strapped to contraptions took to the air; more of them poured out of barracks, stormed down the streets, and out of buildings; unfortunate merchants and labourers tried to get their wagons, displays, and tables of goods out of the way, citizens screamed and ran for cover, and those already safe started making bets and speculating about the outcome.

On a calm, normal day, the streets of the city were a giant sea of bodies, difficult to navigate, but possible so long as you took your time and kept your wits about you. Stirred into a panic by violence or conflict, they turned into a sea in the middle of a violent storm, people and guards running into each other, stray items and goods flying every which way, activity and noise in every which direction which made it hard to see or hear anything.

Penn and Boone forced their way through the chaos, kept together only by their hands firmly locked together. Sashi flew above them to the rooftops, and saw dozens of flying troops heading straight for them; she gritted her teeth and blasted right into the formation, smashing rudders, tearing up wings, and ripping apart engines and other important mechanisms to pieces as soon as she could. Screams filled the air; bullets and other projectiles flew every which way; limbs, claws, and weapons flailed as the guards fought back. Many crashed to the ground or retreated, the rest turned into a swarm centered around Sashi.

Still stuck in the mess, Penn pulled out his hook, aimed up, and pulled the trigger. The head sailed past the thinning crowds and latched onto the side of a roof; he pressed a button, and up the two went, spears, hands, and swords swinging, grabbing, and slashing at the bottoms of their boots and flip-flops. The gears inside the handle suddenly whirred and groaned ominously; their ascent to the rooftops jerked and slowed, and the two started to dip back down to the ground and back in range of the guards.

“We're too heavy!” Penn yelled.

Sprays of bullets, sharp rocks, and other projectiles shot up from the crowds. One struck Penn in the hand, a sharp shock of pain that forced him to let go of Boone.

“BOONE!” Penn screamed as he rocketed up to the rooftops, alone.

“I LOVE YOU, PENN!” Boone screamed back as he fell straight down to the waiting guards below.

They formed a circle to catch him, his sizable shadow hovering over their arms. The dark circle got bigger, bigger, and bigger—much bigger than they realized it would be. Their eyes widened, several backed out and the stronger, bulkier guards among them filled in their places. Several pairs of arms steeled themselves, hands turned up, and all their knees bent in anticipation.

Thud.

The guards let out a collective cry of pain as they all went kneeling on the ground, arms and hands crushed underneath Boone's sizable rear and weight. He crawled out of the fallen circle, reaching into one of his pockets and pulling out another random magical item—a dark blue crystal shaped like a moon. It started glowing in his hand before it disintegrated, turning into a thick cloud of powder that surrounded his whole body before dissipating.

Boone picked himself up, and came face to chest with a new guard—one with a thick club in their hands and a _very_ unamused expression on their face. He raised his hands in defense, one massive tree trunk-like limb swung the weapon straight into the side of his head.

Boing.

Boone went flying off from the impact, into the wall, then straight back at the guard like a rubber ball. Still weighing the same, the unlucky soldier got knocked flat on their back while he sailed off into the air at an angle. Boone opened his eyes, smiled as he realized he was unhurt, then started screaming and uselessly flailing his arms as he started falling back down to earth.

The few flying guards not busy with fighting Sashi retreated from the thinning swarm and chased after Boone. From his new position on the rooftops, Penn pulled out his crossbow and started loading it with as much ammo as it could carry. “Don't worry, Boone, I've got you!” He yelled as he aimed and started pulling the triggers.

Beads zipped through the air, some of them missing entirely, some of them exploding near the guards, a few hitting their targets dead on. They panicked as the wings, engines, and propellers of their flying machines suddenly burst into flames; others let out strangled yelps as they were suddenly trapped in blocks of ice; the rest flew into noxious green hazes, before dropping out of the sky gagging and wailing.

Boone fell back down to the streets unmolested, now mostly deserted except for the land-bound guards rushing for him with their spears, clubs, and scythes raised high up into the air. They batted, poked, and swung at him, but Boone only ended up ricocheting off their weapons, into walls, statues, and trees, before bouncing straight back towards them or going off in wild angles. The guards scattered, dove out of the way, or were knocked out or into each other, before a particularly powerful swing sent Boone high up into the air once more. Those that could still fight picked themselves up, looked at each other, and started yelling in a number of tongues; a consensus was reached, and they reformed into smaller groups, each guard armed with a long-handled weapon, a broom, or a pole of any sort.

Meanwhile, the flying guards' numbers had been decimated; those that hadn't retreated to the towers were nursing injuries, attempting to fix shredded and torn machines, blackened and smoking in craters, trapped inside slowly melting blocks of ice, or curled up into balls, clutching their stomachs, and whimpering pathetically. A new detachment of guards started climbing up to the rooftops and other high points, these ones armed with cannons and catapults loaded with bombs and nets.

Those that were still airborne abandoned Sashi altogether and focused on Penn; he saw the swarm of guards heading straight towards him, and started loading his crossbow again. It was when he realized that he had exactly one flame bead, no more ice beads, and about two of the noxious beads; and there were a half-dozen of them that he turned around and ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could, switching his crossbow for his hook as he jumped from roof to roof.

Sashi scowled and flew after Penn's pursuers, only to stop short of a sudden explosion of flak just inches away from her face. She ducked as a net came sailing for her, the weighted mesh just barely missing. More and more hazards filled the air, forcing her further and further away from Penn.

Back down on the ground, the guards had turned Boone into the focus of a demented sport: teams of three or four would frantically run through the streets, following Boone while waving their weapons or tools in the air and yelling to coordinate; once he was back within range, they would send him ricocheting off their weapons or a building, with the goal of getting him into a cage without him bouncing right back out.

Safely inside their homes or other shelters, the citizens of Via Solaris watched, cheered, and made bets about whether or not Boone would get captured or the guards would give up first, and if he did, which of the cages would he end up in. One who had a journal on hand made notes about the fiasco and started the birth of Via Solaris' hot new sport.

Way above their heads, Penn kept on running atop the roofs of the city, till he slowed down before a space too far to jump across or down from: four lanes of deserted street between him and the next roof, and a five foot drop straight below. He looked back at his pursuers—still getting closer, fanning out into an inverted V, and getting ready to swoop at him from every angle once they got close enough. He looked back at the gap, held out his hook, and fired.

The head sailed off, rocketing closer and closer to the other roof's wall, before falling short just a few inches. Penn cursed and pressed the button to reel it back. “Come on, come on, come on...” He mumbled as the chain rattled and dragged on the ground.

Up in the sky, a net sailed past the fliers, too close for comfort. They quickly broke formation and started dodging and rolling as more stray nets and flak started coming closer and closer to them. One of them turned around, a scowl on their lips. “Hey! Watch where you're fi--!”

Sashi smashed her horns into them.

Down on the roof, Penn moved back as far as he dared, and dashed back towards the chasm before firing the hook again. With the running start, the head sailed through the gap faster, and landed a foot past the edge of the other roof. Penn started gently tugging and pulling back the chain, moving the hook to the stone edging, and not over it and down to the street, until finally…

“YES!” Penn pumped his free hand, and jumped off the roof he was on. He pressed a button trigger, and went zipping across the gap. He looked back at the fliers, only two left, and one of them already in a losing mid-air struggle with Sashi.

He grinned and gave a mock salute. At the same time, the section of stone the hook was grabbing onto crumbled and broke off. Penn looked down at the hard, unforgiving ground rushing below him, then up at the _very s_ olid wall he was heading straight towards at great speed.

He closed his eyes.

“PENN!” Sashi screamed. She kicked off her opponent, and dove after him. Her opponent retreated, while the one remaining guard—another demon—followed suit.

Penn was mere inches away from hitting the wall when he felt sharp claws dig into the fabric of his shirt and jerk him straight up. He opened his eyes and saw the roofs and the ground getting smaller, and sighed in relief. “Whew! Thanks Sash!” He turned to smile at her.

The guard that had caught him kept their eyes on the nearest cage as they flew towards it.

Penn craned his neck back, and saw Sashi flying after him, determination and rage on her face. He looked down at the guards on the rooftops, and saw all of them busy reloading their guns with nets or training them on Sashi. A constant thunking noise caught his attention; he looked down and saw the chain of his hook still hanging out, crashing into walls, banging off towers, and forcing a few guards to duck their heads to keep from getting beaned in the head.

He pressed a button, the chunk of roof in the hook's grasp flew off. He swung his arm at a nearby wall of open windows, held the handle with both hands, and stiffened his arms. The head banged in and out, before it finally latched on.

The sudden, powerful jerk _hurt,_ but it was worth itthe guard suddenly found themselves violently pulled back and into Sashi's horns. They dropped Penn from the shock, she swooped down and caught him in her arms before flying off in a different direction.

Penn released and retracted the hook as quickly as he could before it could latch onto anything else. Once it came back into the handle and secured itself with a soft click, he let out an even bigger sigh of relief. “Great work, Sash!” He yelled. “That was _way_ too close!” He smiled at her.

Sashi blushed and smiled back. It disappeared as she saw out of the corner of her eye a weighted net heading straight for them. She tried to dodge, but with Penn in her arms, she just wasn't agile enough. The thick mesh wrapped around the both of them, the heavy balls at the ends spiraling together and tightening the ropes. Bound and weighed down, they fell out of the sky and towards a closed wooden window.

Crash!

They tumbled into a warehouse with a rain of splinters and chunks. They rolled across the hard floor before coming to a stop at a tower of pillows with a heavy whumph, the whole thing collapsed over them in an avalanche of downy, luxurious softness immediately after. Sashi started clawing and tearing at the net, shredding their bindings and the pillows, Penn did his best to stay out of the way.

“Inside the warehouse!”

“Not that one, this one!”

“Break down that door!”

Bang! Bang! CRACK!

The bar holding the warehouse doors closed broke in two, the guards swarmed in immediately after.

Sashi burst out of the mess of pillows, and tore off the netting still clinging onto her. Penn was still trapped underneath, tangled up in cut ropes and downy stuffing. She heard the guards running up the stairs and scowled.

“Just hide, Master!” Sashi whispered quickly as she started throwing pillows over Penn, covering him back up.

Penn scowled and opened his mouth to protest, before Sashi stuffed a wad of stuffing into it. She slammed a particularly large pillow over his head before she flew off, ramming her horns into the first guard she saw.

A fight quickly broke out, yelling, fighting, hard thuds and muffled whumphs filling the air. Penn fumbled about in the mess of pillows, trying to find his hook, but only grabbing empty air and fluff.

A triumphant cry filled the air. “CALL OF THE SEARCH!” Fadilah yelled as she personally pinned Sashi down to the ground, other guards latching shackles on her flailing limbs and wings. “We've got the demon and the wizard! The vizier says their leader's useless without them, so save yourselves the time and effort!”

The other guards wasted no time obeying the order. They left the warehouse, the doors were closed, and all was suddenly quiet. A few minutes later, the people went out of their homes and shelters, chattering noisily and excitedly about the fiasco that made their day that much more interesting. Businesses reopened and commerce resumed soon after, and life in the city was quickly back to normal level of activity din.

Still hidden underneath the layer of cushions, Penn thought of what he was going to do now…


	3. Chapter 3

Wait and pray, that was the only thing Penn could do.

He was unarmed except for the hook, he had no idea how to get to the palace or where Sashi and Boone had been taken, and he was _definitely_ going to get arrested on sight after that fiasco. Unless he just happened to meet one of the sultana's loyal spies, guards that had caught onto Rippen's plans and wanted to assist him, or found a different set of allies that were much better equipped and much more knowledgeable than he was, he was stuck in the warehouse, stretched out on a bed of cushions in the shadows, watching as the golden rays streaming in from the window turned from brilliant gold to a hazy orange as the afternoon grew late.

He hated every single second of it. The sounds of citizens going about their days working, playing, and laughing didn't help his mood any. He eventually tuned it out, and probably would have taken a nap, if worry and dread weren't steadily eating away at him. And if the guards decided to check the warehouse again? He may as well have turned himself in; at the very least, he'd be with his friends again, and together they could figure out a way to get out and win, as they always did.

The sun was about an hour away from setting when he saw it: a shadow on the floor, disappearing as quickly as it appeared as its owner ducked into the warehouse and to the darkness opposite Penn. He scrambled up from his bed of pillows and raised his hook. He warily aimed the head at the intruder, finger on the trigger.

“Master. It's me.”

Penn holstered his hook and ran towards them. He grinned as his dark-adjusted eyes confirmed what he thought: Sashi was back. The hours since her capture hadn't been kind to her, but her demonic nature still kept her looking absolutely stunning, only a few minor blemishes on skin that used to be smooth and flawless.

He stopped in front of her, arms held out and ready to hug her, unsure if he should. Then she pulled him in herself, her arms squeezing the air out of his lungs as her claws tore more rips and tears into his shirt.

Sashi let go, Penn gasped for breath. She frowned. “Did I hurt you, Master?” She asked.

Penn sucked in a deep breath, and let it out. “Nah, I'm good." He smiled. "You?”

Sashi smiled back. “Better, now that I'm with you again...~” She purred.

Penn blushed. “Where's Boone?” He asked quickly.

“Still back at the palace,” Sashi replied, frowning. “He got stuck in the hidden passage we were supposed to use to escape.”

“You know a way back in there so we can save him?”

Sashi grinned. “I wouldn't be here if I didn't.”

Penn nodded and grinned back. “Alright! Let's head out once the sun sets; it'll be easier to sneak in when it's dark out. For now, you tell me as much as you can about the palace, and let's plan about how we're going to get him out.”

Sashi paused. “… Actually, there was something I wanted to ask of you first, Master.” She muttered, her eyes nervously turning to the side before back at Penn.

“… Uh, sure, what is it?” Penn awkwardly gestured at her.

“That fight earlier, and getting out of the palace took a lot out of me, but I know a way to get me back to full power—it's not _that_ hard, but I'll need you to help me.”

Penn nodded. “Sounds good to me! What do I need to do?”

Sashi looked away again, her cheeks turning red. “… I need you to fuck me, Master.” She mumbled.

Penn blinked. “What?”

Sashi sheepishly looked back at him, a hopeful smile on her face. “I need you to fuck me, Master." She repeated. "I'm a succubus, your cum is my source of food _and_ strength.”

Penn's answer was instant: “No.”

Sashi's reply was just as fast: “Why not?!”

Penn frowned. “Look, Sash, I don't care if it's going to make the mission easier, I am not”--he cringed--“… having sex with you.”

“It could just be a blowjob or a handjob, instead!” Sashi offered. “Or a tailjob, if you're into that.” She idly whipped her tail to the side, showing off its impressive range of movement.

Penn started crossing his arms in the air. “No! No blowjobs, no handjobs, no tailjobs! No _anything_ sexual, alright?”

Sashi frowned. “Is there something the matter, Master?”

“Uh, duh?! Look, Sash, I know you're big on the whole being totally into what your new form is for the mission… but you don't have to do this, alright? Besides, it's probably just the dimension...”

Sashi scowled, her eyes turning an ominous blood-gold. “IT'S NOT JUST THE DIMENSION!" She screamed.

Silence. Her words hung in the air.

“Sash--”

Sashi blasted into the air, up into the ceiling. Penn reached out for her too late, then looked up at the rows of wooden beams above; without any other open windows or sources of light, he couldn't find her for all the darkness.

“Sashi…?”

No response.

Penn looked up in a random direction and smiled. “C'mon, Sash, you can come down from there—I'm not mad! Okay, maybe _really_ surprised and plenty shocked, but not _mad.”_

Still nothing.

“We can talk about this, Sashi! We do that, remember? Talk about our problems with each other? Well, the one time, we sang them, but still!”

Penn endured another minute of silence, before he sat down again and started thinking. He'd already exhausted all available tactics appealing to Sashi his sidekick and friend, now his only chance was to appeal to her as Sashi the Succubus Slave. Once he'd gotten past all the _obvious,_ unimportant details about her, he remembered the brand on her back—the one shaped like the zero on his shirt. It was obviously magical, and Sashi had made no secret of the fact that it made her that much more protective and affectionate towards him, but did it have even more than that? He decided to experiment.

“Uh… Sashi, your master commands you to come down from here!”

Nothing. He tried again.

“Sashi Kobayashi, come down here right this instant!”

He paused for a few moments. When the effect was most definitely not delayed, he tried one last time:

“Hey, Sash, could you come down from there, please?”

The brand on Sashi's back started glowing through her vest. She whimpered and clung tighter to the beam she was holding, before her body suddenly gained a mind all its own, and forced her to come hovering down and before Penn, head down, eyes turned up, claws clasped and hanging low in front of her.

“Yes, Master...?” She mumbled.

“You want to talk about what just happened back there?” Penn asked.

Sashi shook her head.

“You want to sit down for a while?” Penn thumbed back to the pile he'd built for himself.

Sashi nodded, before she quietly flew past him and settled herself on the side closest to the wall. She curled her legs up to her chest, buried her face between her knees, then wrapped her wings around her. Penn awkwardly joined her on the opposite side, putting several feet between them.

The two of them waited in silence; outside, the light was quickly fading, the day crowd of Via Solaris was starting to turn in, while the night crowd got ready to leave their homes and take their place.

Penn looked over his shoulder. “You okay, Sash?”

Sashi sniffed. “No, Master...” She mumbled. “I just ruined _everything,_ didn't I? Why _would_ I be okay...?”

Penn smiled hopefully. “Hey, we still haven't zapped out, right? Which means there's still a chance we can win this mission!”

“I'm not talking about the mission.” Sashi growled.

Penn's smile disappeared. He carefully crawled over to her, and stopped a foot behind her. “You want to go the palace now, save Boone, and stop Rippen?”

“No,” Sashi said softly. “The coup's at midnight, I've got time to wallow in my misery.”

Penn frowned and carefully put his hand on Sashi's shoulder. She tensed up, but he didn't take it back. “Sash: we _really_ need to talk about this—if not now, then after the mission.”

Sashi warily raised her head out from her legs and lowered a wing to glare at him; her eyes were barely red or puffy, and more ominously golden than anything else, but it was still obvious she had been crying. “What is there to talk about, Master?” She spat. “Just how badly I screwed up our friendship? How are we going to keep working together now that I've made things super awkward between us? How am I supposed to _not_ kill Boone when he finally decides to make a joke about this?”

“I was thinking more you explaining to me what you meant by it not being just the dimension.”

The anger on Sashi's face disappeared. She quickly ducked her head back between her legs, and raised up her wing again.

Penn squeezed her shoulder. “I can wait; the coup's at midnight, we've got time.” He said as he took his hand back, and sat down behind her..

After what seemed like hours, Sashi finally spoke: “I want to be yours, Master—since long before this mission, even if your cum wasn't going to help us win, even if I wasn't a succubus and I'd need it anyway.”

Penn blushed. “… Uh, how long, exactly?”

Sashi sighed. “I don't know. But the moment I realized, I knew it'd been for a really long time.”

“What about that thing you had for Blaze?”

Sashi laughed bitterly. “I can be in love with more than one guy at a time, Master, it's not illegal. But with him and all the others, it never really lasted; I guess I was just trying to distract myself, settle for someone else so I can finally stop wanting you so badly. But, no one ever could make me feel the way you do, and I never got up the courage to tell you, so on the cycle went… until now.” She sighed.

Penn frowned uneasily. “So, that thing just now--”

Sashi snapped her head at him, cheeks red from anger and embarrassment. “Well sorry I can't word a sexual come on right when I'm nervous, terrified and _really_ horny, Master!” She yelled.

Penn flinched. “I was going to ask if you actually want to do it.” He said quickly. “The real you—not just succubus you.”

Sashi turned even redder and buried her face again. Another silence fell over them.

Outside, night fell over the entire city. Floodlights lit up the main streets, streetlamps and windows illuminated the side streets and alleys. Stray beams poured in from the window, casting them half in shadow, half in light.

“... Yes, Master, I do—both the real me, and the succubus me.” Sashi mumbled. “If there is anything this dimension has done to me, it's made me brave enough to actually tell you—or maybe just so incredibly thirsty for you, I can't hide it anymore.”

Penn nodded.

Sashi carefully peeked her head out from cover, her chocolate-gold eyes peering right at Penn's blue ones. “What about you, Master?” She asked.

Penn blinked. “What?”

“Do you want me too, Master?” She smiled hopefully.

Penn sweated. “Well, I, uh...” He saw the curve of Sashi's lips and felt her mood drop as low as they could go. “Yes!” He blurted.

Sashi's mouth turned to a small “o.” “Really...?” She whispered.

Penn smiled awkwardly. “I think the better question to ask is: why wouldn't I? C'mon, Sash, you know who you are: brave, loyal, and as of this moment, insanely hot—which isn't to say that you aren't hot back in the real world, it's just that right now, you're a succubus, and it's kinda, you know, part of the deal.”

Sashi unfurled her wings and turned to face him, half-ecstatic, half-puzzled.

“… But yeah, I do want you, too. Even before this mission, and too scared of ruining our friendship to try to find out, like you, too.”

Beat.

Sashi blasted Penn on his back and pinned him down, their lips now inches away from each other. She leaned down and stopped, unsure if she should, before Penn closed the distance between them. Sashi's whole body went rigid for a few moments, before she wrapped her claws behind Penn's head pulled him in deeper. It was, in a word, mind-blowing—who-knows-how much regret, self-loathing, and desire bottled up for so long all pouring out in that single moment.

Sashi parted her lips, tongue slipping out pressing up against Penn's, begging for entrance. There was suddenly a strange, warm, and definitely pleasant tingling wherever her spit was; even if he hadn't wanted her so badly, he'd have opened his mouth wide and let her in. She dipped her tongue in, staying there and relishing the taste of him, before she started slowly, lovingly exploring the rest of his mouth.

They pulled away when Penn was almost out of breath—in this form, Sashi didn't really need air. A thick trail of spit hung between them; the bright red on their cheeks burned even darker. Both panted, both their hands fell to their sides or on the pillows, and both were _keenly_ aware of a strong, sudden, _burning_ desire for _more_.

Sashi lifted her hips up from Penn's stomach; she looked down in the space between, and found a noticeable bulge down the front of his pants; she looked back at him and grinned. “Can I, Master?” She asked excitedly.

Penn smiled. “Go right ahead...” He mumbled.

Sashi's chocolate-gold eyes took on a new, hungry, predatory gleam as a fanged grin spread wide on her lips. She put her claws to Penn's chest, digging her claws into the fabric as she shifted herself lower down on his body. She slipped the tips of her hooves into the loops of Penn's bootlaces, pulling each knot undone before her tail wrenched the shoes right off his feet. Her claws slipped under the hem of his shirt, nails leaving light scratches on his bare skin as she pulled his shirt up, leaving his belt exposed.

Penn shuddered as she worked; the marks glowed bright on his pale skin and sent rather strange, rather _good_ sensations up his spine.

Sashi giggled softly as she went to work on his belt, expertly undoing the buckle, before undoing Penn's pants. She grinned up at him as she flapped her wings, hovering into the air and back up his body. Penn watched as she spread her legs, knees positioned on either side of him and primed to straddle him, the space between her legs hovering tantalizingly, teasingly close over his bulge. His erection throbbed painfully against the fabric of his pants, raring and eager to be set free; he groaned, nails digging into the cushions below his fingers.

“Just tell me to stop if you want me to, Master...” Sashi whispered.

She landed without a sound, knees sinking into the cushions, her hips now to just a few inches above his.

“… Whatever you want me to do, I will...”

She put her hand over Penn's crotch, slowly rubbing up and down his length through the fabric.

“… Because I only wish to obey.”

She pinched the zipper of Penn's pants, and started slowly, teasingly pulling it down.

Penn bit his lip, shaft pressing painfully against its confines again now that it was this close to being free...

A long, drawn out ten seconds of torture and teasing later, Sashi finally unzipped him. Her claws flew into the bands of his underwear and pants, and with a swift, smooth motion, pulled them down between his ankles, letting Penn's shaft spring up into the air, finally free. She stopped for a moment, just taking it in.

“... Yeah… it's… not that impressive, but it's not disappointing either, I guess...” Penn mumbled.

Sashi laughed softly. “It doesn't matter how big it is, Master; it's _yours_ , and I _want_ it.” She purred as she wrapped her sharp claws around his length.

Penn yelped, then writhed in pleasure—he'd thought having those razor-sharp tips around such a delicate area would be worrying, to say the least, but they only felt bizarrely, pleasantly warm, and just the right balance between soft and firm. Sashi grinned and started stroking him up and down; his cock quickly grew to full hardness and throbbed against her palm in appreciation, and she grinned even wider. She gave the head a light, playful squeeze, eliciting a surprised gasp from Penn before she let go.

She hooked her fingers into the sides of her panties, and pulled that silky piece of red fabric down, letting it hug her toned, muscular rear as she slowly—painfully slowly—revealed more and more of her body.

Penn watched, and blushed even harder. He worried about passing out from blood loss, what with his erection showing no signs of softening anytime soon.

Sashi exposed her pink lips to the air, and let out a soft moan. She was wet—very wet. Even in the sparse light, Penn could see her slit glistening with her arousal, the clear fluid starting to drip down inside her thighs. He caught a whiff of a strange, spicy scent, one that quickly drove him even wilder and _hungrier_ than he already was, enough to just want grab Sashi's hip and take her right there and then—but he forced himself to stop.

Sashi saw the look of conflict and consternation playing out on his face, and grinned. A hand flew up to her vest, unclasping every buckle in a matter of seconds. She gingerly pushed the loosened fabric to the sides, framing the fine curve of her breasts with them, with the piercings on each nipple glittering enticingly in the light as a little added touch.

Her hand cupped one mound, claws gently squeezing and groping, easily sinking into the soft flesh. She moaned.

Her nails inched closer to her nipple, slipping one claw into piercing, before she slowly tugged it up and down. She gasped, and hissed in pleasure.

Her other hand slid between her legs, fingers rubbing up and down her slit, her claws quickly wet and glistening with her arousal. She moaned again, louder this time, as more and more of the clear fluid dripped and poured down her folds, onto her palm, and down her thighs.

The scent was even stronger now, almost overwhelming, driving him into such a lust-crazed frenzy it wouldn't take much else to push him over the edge...

"Wait, Sash! Stop! Stop!”

... Which is exactly why he yelled those words and pulled himself up the cushions and away from Sashi.

sHE stopped immediately, claws falling away from her breasts and between her legs, eyes filled with concern and worry. “What's wrong, Master?” She asked quickly.

“I'm probably gonna blow even before I put it in, is what!” Penn replied. “Look, Sash, nothing wrong with you, _believe me_ , you've just been mind-blowingly amazing so far but… with what you're doing to me before we even get past the foreplay... I… uh… I just really don't want my first time to end in two seconds flat, okay?”

Sashi frowned a little and nodded in understanding, before her eyes glinted and a smile spread out on her face. “while I was out in the city earlier, I saw some things that might help, Master--want me to go fetch them?” She asked.

“Think you can get back here in time if you do?” Penn asked back.

Sashi grinned playfully, a look of mild annoyance in her eyes.

Penn nodded. “Right, stupid question, sorry.” His expression softened. “Stay safe out there, alright?”

Sashi nodded. “I will, Master.”

After one cautious peek to the streets outside, Sashi disappeared into the nighttime streets of Via Solaris, a silent shadow sneaking in through windows and open doors and into backrooms and unattended storefronts...


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't like cum facials/cumming on a character's face, body, and somewhat unrealistic amounts of cum... sorry, the end of this chapter is full of it.
> 
> Also, hi Toni, Mimzie, enjoy the SMUT chapter!

Sashi came back in minutes, carrying a nondescript sack in her hands. The look on her face was rather like a child asking their parent if they could open their present now, though obviously, what was inside was a _lot_ less innocent than a new train set for Christmas.

“I'm back, Master~!” Sashi sang as she set her haul down in front of Penn. “I didn't take too long, did I?” She asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

Penn smiled as he lounged about on the pillows, still naked from the waist down. “Nah! Might have to work me up all over again, though...” He sheepishly pointed down at his shaft, now gone soft.

The hungry, predatory look from earlier was back in Sashi's eyes. “I don't think that'll be a problem, Master...” She purred, before slowly licking her lips.

Penn's shaft quickly showed that yes, it wouldn't be.

Sashi knelt down in front of Penn, the sack beside her. She opened it up and revealed quite an impressive array of items, from sex toys, magical accessories, and a small collection of coloured bottles. Penn gawked at the sheer number of them, let alone the sometimes interesting and unusual designs, Sashi looked at him like a dog that was happily presenting the stick back to their owner.

“ _Wow._ That is a lot of stuff.” Penn said, bereft of better words to describe how he was feeling.

“In Via Solaris, it's more a question of 'How soon do you want it?' than 'Do they have it?' or 'Does it exist?'” Sashi hummed merrily.

“Where'd you even get the money to—wait, you stole all of these, didn't you?”

Sashi nodded, completely unashamed. “I figured they'd mind Rippen taking over the city more than a few bits of missing stock here and there, Master.”

Penn slowly nodded back. “Right… so, which ones…?”

“All of them, Master!” Sashi replied, her tail swishing eagerly behind her. “Just choose and tell me what to do! Would you like to me watch me play with myself with one or more of these toys? Or do you want to experiment with the alchemy bottles? The merchants and labels promise a _lot_ of interesting effects. And though I know you find me beautiful as is, I can augment parts of myself, mould myself to exactly what you desire at the moment…”

Penn blushed, the offers and the images in his mind _very_ tempting indeed. Then, he quickly shook his head. “Just… whatever's going to keep me from blowing too soon; I don't think we need to spice things up just yet, you know...” He chuckled awkwardly.

“As you wish, Master!” Sashi replied cheerfully. She plunged her claws into the sack and plucked out a ring, one of smooth, polished bronze with runes etched all over its surface. She carefully slid it over Penn's half-erect shaft, the hoop much too large to fit around his girth, until she traced her finger around its width and the runes started glowing. The ring quickly shrank in size, till it fit snugly around his shaft, tightening and adjusting alongside as if it were made of a softer, more malleable material.

It felt weightless and warm against Penn's skin, before he stopped feeling its physical presence altogether. The magic inside was just as subtle, seeping into his body, dormant for the moment, but definitely there. However this was supposed to do its thing, Penn would just have to find out later, it seems.

“Are you ready, Master?” Sashi asked, her eyes flicking back and forth from Penn's face and his shaft. “Or is there something you want first?”

Penn thought for a moment. “Do you _really_ want to do this, Sashi? Things got _pretty_ heated and weird earlier, and I don't think either of us were doing much thinking...”

Sashi nodded. “Yes, Master.” She said seriously.

Penn smiled. “Go right on ahead, then.”

Sashi smiled back at him as she reached down and wrapped her claws around his shaft, stroking him to full erectness once more. “Do you want to put your cock inside me, Master?” She purred, her other hand pulling her panties down between her thighs. “Or in my mouth, instead? Between my breasts?” She blushed and grinned even wider. “Or someplace else…? This body of mine is _very_ accommodating, Master believe me...” She purred as she undid the clasps of her vest.

Penn blushed and bit his lip, eyes roaming all over Sashi—her lips curled up into a wide smile and parted just so to let him peek into the warm, wet mouth and eager tongue inside; her bared breasts, perky, rounded, and soft; her pink slit, already wet and glistening with her arousal; her tail, long, flexible, and muscular…

He groaned in a mix of arousal and frustration. So many choices…

Sashi stopped her stroking and looked up at Penn. “If it helps, Master, there's something I _really_ want to do first...”

Penn quickly nodded his head. “Do it. Whatever it is. _Please.”_

The brand on Sashi's back burned and glowed again, but this time, there  was  only  a  _very_ _happy_ smile on  her  face as she let go and shuffled back.  She  lowered her face down to Penn's shaft,  lips hovering just over it . She giggled softly as she put a claw on his hip, the other  returning to his cock,  before s he parted her lips,  her hot breath pouring out onto  its  sensitive  skin .

Penn shivered, a little bead of pre-cum forming on the tip of his shaft. Sashi's eyes widened in, her tongue  quickly down scoop it up. She moaned as she got a taste of its warm, salty flavour, shivered as she felt a little surge of power and life run down her spine,  one that  soothed her aches, revitalized her body, and made her very, very,  _very_ hungry for more… she quickly put her tongue back to his shaft, eagerly lapping at his head, running her tongue down his length and back up on the other side, leaving a thick coating of her saliva, more of it dripping down from her tongue or drooling from her mouth to cover the few spots she missed.

Penn's fingers tightened on the cushions, a loud groan escaped his lips and quieter moans followed soon after. If Sashi's tongue on his lips tingled pleasantly, on his cock it  _burned,_ heating up his skin till it was impossible to ignore the sensation of her saliva dripping and coating his whole shaft, making it twitch, throb, and leak, but never getting so hot to be painful—in  _one_ way, at least.

Sashi put her tongue to the bottom of Penn's cockhead and the thick dollop of pre-cum glistening glistening on it. Her tongue rose up, higher, almost to it—before she pulled away.

Penn blinked, face red, fingernails already tearing the fabric slightly. “Sashi...?”

“C-could you grab my horns and pull me in, Master...? Please…?” Sashi asked meekly, her voice shaking with nervousness and excitement.

Penn wanted back inside her mouth too much to argue. He wrenched his fingers out of the cushions, and wrapped them firmly around Sashi's horns. To not much surprise, they felt pleasantly warm and smooth on his hands, and the little ridges all over its surface ensured he could easily get a good grip on her, and that his hands wouldn't slip off that easily.

Penn worried about what would happen if they did as he pulled Sashi back down on his cock. Would the ridges scrape his skin? Would Sashi accidentally ram her horns into him? (Not as bad as getting gouged at the tips, but she could hit _hard_ in this form.) Then she wrapped her lips around his cock, started hungrily, greedily sucking up his pre-cum, and all he could think about was her warm, wet mouth tightening around his shaft and how _amazing_ it felt.

He almost came right there and then—but then he felt a firm force down in his sac, one that felt like a barrier stopping his orgasm in its tracks before coaxing it straight back down. He grunted from the suddenness of it all, the sound lost amidst all the loud, lewd noises Sashi made as she sucked and swallowed.

She pulled away with a loud pop, leaving Penn's cock coated in a thick layer of of her slobber, not a single drop of pre-cum to be seen. “Mmm...” Sashi purred as she wrapped her hand around his shaft, her claw easily gliding up and down his length. “You taste _delicious_ , Master...”

Her voice sent shivers down his spine and another thick bead of pre drooling out of his shaft. “T-thanks...” He mumbled.

“Can I play with myself, Master?” Sashi asked, raising her tail up. The tip of it curved back into her and started slowly swishing from side.

“Sure...” Penn mumbled.

Sashi grinned and let go of Penn's shaft, her claw returning to his hip. “Thank you, Master...~” She purred as she brought her head back down, and her tail curved lower, the tip pressing up between her legs and against her folds.

She put her tongue back to Penn's cock head, licking off the pre-cum there, savouring the its salty taste, its warmth, and its gooey consistency; her tail started slowly stroking up and down her slit, pressing up just hard enough to be felt.

She swallowed, slowly and loudly; her spade of her tail curled up and started parting her lips, little by little.

She whimpered and moaned, shivers running down her spine, arousal gushing out of her lips and dripping all over her tail and down to the cushions below.

Penn watched, listened, and finally decided he'd had enough. He gave a small, light tug, waited a second, before pulling Sashi back down to his cock. Her lips pressed up against his head, fresh pre-cum drooling and smearing onto her face; she let out a little squeal of delight, before she turned her eyes up to Penn and made _sure_ he was watching.

Sashi opened her mouth wide and swallowed the first few inches of Penn's cock; her tail tip surged into her womb at the same time, burying the spaded tip within her walls; she quickly tightened her lips around his girth, her moan ending up muffled.

Penn yelped, his cock throbbing and spurting a healthy gob of pre-cum right into Sashi's mouth, too small for the ring's magic to take notice. Sashi let out a little moan of pleasure; she closed her eyes hungrily gulping it all down; her tail squirmed and writhed inside her, rubbing up against her walls and sending shocks of pleasure up her spine as more power flooded down from above and spread to every part of her body.

“Sash…?” Penn said.

Sashi stopped and looked up at him.

“That was _hot,_ do it again.”

She was all too happy to oblige.

Sashi pushed herself down on Penn's cock, swallowing more of him an inch or less at a time, her tail wormed its way deeper inside her the whole while; her moans got louder and more frequent, the noises all muffled and muted, and getting more and more garbled as his shaft filled her mouth.

Penn's grip on her horns tightened, his knuckles slowly turning white from the strain. Again, he felt the pressure building up inside him, quickly building up to an orgasm, but a much more forceful push keeping it from happening for the moment. He groaned, from frustration this time; _now_ wouldn't have been a bad time to finish, but the ring seemed to have its own ideas.

Sashi kept on working her way down to Penn's cock, her tail dove deeper into her womb; she reached the base of his cock first, lips pressing up against his sac, and her tail quickly surged forward and drove last few inches inside her before it could go no further. She screamed, her whole body shaking and going stiff for a moment, before she relaxed and let out a long, low moan of pleasure.

Her mouth was tight, like it was wrapped around his girth; her throat, almost painfully so, rapidly tightening and loosening as she choked on his cock. Sashi opened her lips, her tongue slipping out and trying to lap at Penn's sac, but never quite making it. He pulled her down even further, his grip tightening on her horns as drool and pre-cum poured out from her mouth and all over his crotch, and her tongue licked most of it right back up.

Sashi slipped her tongue back in, wrapped her lips around his shaft again, and nudged her head up. Penn slowly pulled her back up. She sucked hard as she could the entire time, as if she wouldn't ever let him go; at the same time, her tail writhed and wriggled inside her as it made its way out of her folds. She pulled out of him with another loud pop, a rain of saliva and pre-cum dripping down back on his cock and pouring from her lips and running down the sides of her mouth; her tail worked its way free immediately afterward, the its whole length coated and dripping with her arousal.

They both panted for breath, every one bringing with it another powerful dose of that spicy, exciting scent, keeping their faces burning red and sweat pouring down their bodies.

Penn let go of Sashi's horns, his white knuckles steadily turning back to their usual colour. In what shouldn't have surprised him, his hands didn't feel sore or tired in the slightest.

“Again, Master…?” Sashi asked.

“Sure.” Penn wrapped his hands around her horns again. “Actually, can I pull you down myself this time?”

“Oh my god, _yes,_ _ **please**_ **.”**

Sashi wrapped her lips around just the head of Penn's cock, her hands firmly on his hips, and her tail tip pressing up against her folds again. She looked up at Penn, and made a little excited noise, eyes bright with excitement.

Penn took a deep breath, tightened his hold on her horns, and pulled her straight down the entire length of his cock, the entrance of her mouth to inside her throat in one go. His voice came out as a little surprised gasp, his shaft pulsed and throbbed, spurting another gob of pre-cum straight down Sashi's throat.

He stopped, looking at Sashi to see if he had gone too far, only to see her frantically working her tail back into her womb, wriggling her hips the entire time. The feeling of her tongue trying to lap at his sac once more only assured him he hadn't.

He smiled. Then, he pulled her back up, and did it again.

He kept on forcing Sashi back up and down his cock, her moving right along with him till he couldn't keep up anymore, and found himself just holding on tight while she went wild on his shaft. It didn't take very long to drive him to another orgasm, the pressure building back up inside him with powerful surge after powerful surge, almost painful with how _badly_ he _needed_ to cum.

The force acted one last time, stopping his orgasm for a second or two before it disappeared entirely. Penn all but exploded in Sashi's mouth, his cock throbbing and pulsing hard as it pumped rope after rope of cum straight down her throat, flooding her mouth, before she pulled out and let the rest splatter all over her face and her bare chest.

Penn got a good look at the completely, utterly satisfied look on Sashi's face—eyes half-lidded, cum-filled mouth open and panting, spunk dripping down the sides of her mouth, on her specs, down her cheeks, on her breasts—before he fell onto his back, his whole body suddenly feeling heavy, useless, and drained of _almost_ every last drop of life he had in him.

He heard Sashi swallowing his cum, slowly, lovingly gulping them down, and relishing the taste and the way it traveled down her throat before pooled into her stomach, warm and pleasant.

“I love you, Master...~” Sashi whispered, the last thing Penn heard before he passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

The “Revitalizing Potion” felt like a cross between coffee and liquid murder.

First, searing hot magma pouring straight down Penn's throat, scorching a blackened, smoking, smouldering black trail on its way down to his stomach before it pooled inside, burning, bubbling, and boiling yet somehow keeping his insides completely intact and undamaged.

Second, twin bolts of lightning running up and down his spine, the electricity shocking every last nerve awake, letting Penn feel just how much it _hurt_ to hav e every single last pain receptor in your body activated all at once. His eyes were already wide open from the magma, but now they he felt like he could keep them _wide_ open for the rest of his life.

Finally, three raging tsunamis, one giant wall of water rushing up to his while its companions rushed down a leg each, the sheer force of it jerking Penn's heavy limbs back into motion, sending his heart pumping, and his blood pounding through his veins.

Penn felt like screaming as he staggered back to his feet, but his voice seemed to have been left out of the recovery or temporarily silenced—on purpose, he figured. With his newly reinvigorated, crystal clear eyesight, he saw Sashi standing back a good few feet away from where he was, clutching the potion bottle in her hands, biting her lip, and her eyes firmly facing down at his crotch again with that hungry look from earlier.

Penn looked down, and saw that the potion had also given him a raging hard-on, and from the thick bead of pre-cum on his head, set him up for a second round, too.

“… Are you okay, Master…?” Sashi asked with concern, though her eyes were still locked on Penn's cock.

“Uh… yeah… I'm okay…” Penn mumbled as he examined himself for injury. The excruciating pain from earlier was gone, replaced with a feeling not unlike having woken up from a deep, restful slumber and having spent a good few minutes stretching out your limbs in the morning sun. “How about you?”

“Good.” Sashi replied, eyes still stuck to Penn's shaft.

“Good enough to fight Rippen and save Boone?”

“Mhmm.” Sashi replied, eyes unmoving.

Penn picked up his pants and started putting it back on. Sashi made a little disappointed noise. “Later, alright?” He said. “We can do this again when we don't have to worry about the mission.”

Sashi nodded sadly, before she smiled. “I'll hold you on that promise, Master.” She said playfully.

With one last check of themselves, their equipment, and the streets outside, they set off for the palace of Via Solaris.

* * *

From the outside, one might think that the palace had a single, giant gate leading into a magnificent courtyard, but the reality was far more intricate and complicated than that. All paths from the ground were through a series of complex mazes, their twisting and turning paths regularly patrolled by guards; watched over from the peaks of rooftops, the tops of towers, and the windows of nearby buildings; and almost all had entrances through unassuming gates, empty buildings with lively facades, or trap-doors and hidden walls.

It was no wonder visitors and goods were usually delivered by air, no shortage of fresh crops, people, and other assorted supplies and treasures being hauled over the high walls and the labyrinthine passages by boats lifted by massive balloons, and moved with thrumming propellers.

The only clear way in within sight of _many_ guards, and vigilant patrols on the transport ships themselves, it made infiltrating the palace a _very_ daunting task indeed, if not outright impossible—unless one had already been to it, escaped, and had an astoundingly good memory of the path one took.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Penn asked quietly as he and Sashi sneaked through the maze-like alleys and halls. “I'm pretty sure the guards would have blocked off your escape route, if they're not already waiting for us on the other side.”

“Trust me, Master, I've seen how they work here—no one soldier really knows every way in or out, and the entrances change every day.”

“And how do you know that?”

Sashi smirked. “They don't do a good job of hiding their patrol routes and their personal maps, either.”

They stopped and pressed themselves up to a wall. A guard went down a nearby set of steps, turning around and disappearing around the corner. They kept on holding their breaths until the soldier emerged on the roof of the building across the street, stopped, and watched the street below, their back turned to the duo.

Carried on by Sashi's silent wings, they blasted into a nearby building, seemingly lighted and occupied from the outside, but only tricks of the light and whirring machines inside. Sashi dropped Penn off within the cover of the dummies and their shadows while she headed up to a nearby wall.

“Let's see...” Sashi said as she felt around the carvings, the graffiti, and the fixtures on the wall. “It should be somewhere around…”--her hand pushed down on a hidden button--”… here.”

A section of the wall across the room opened up. Inside was a feminine looking guard who was busy with a mirror and a box of make-up, making their rounded features more angular, squared, and masculine. They sat on a sack, male's clothes peeking out of the opening.

Penn and Sashi turned to them, and the three spent some time just staring at each other in silence.

“If I tell you where a different secret entrance is that leads straight to the jail, can we forget this ever happened?” The guard asked.

Moments later, the wall slid back over the opening, and Sashi and Penn ascended up a ladder and through a different hidden passage in the ceiling. They crawled through claustrophobic vents and down a chute, their path lit only by the occasional glowing stones set into the walls. Sashi lead the way, on the alert for any other guards using the paths that crossed with theirs, while Penn followed behind, trying _really_ hard not to focus too much on the fact that the demon's shapely rear was right in front of his face and those panties covered even less than he thought they would.

They exited through another false wall to an empty, disused cell, its walls dilapidated and dusty, the floor littered with trash and assorted junk that couldn't have been stored elsewhere for lack of space or care. The torches in this section of the jail were dim or missing, giving them plenty of shadows and cover to hide in.

Sashi peered out at the nearby halls, before looking back at Penn. “Stay here, Master. Anything happens, go back into the wall and hide.”

Penn opened his mouth to protest, before closing it and nodding at Sashi. He found some barrels in a dark corner to hide behind, she flew out to the halls, silent and swift. She was only gone for a minute, but the sounds of guards talking and patrolling the halls made it seem even longer. Time itself seemed to slow down when the occasional guard passed in front of the dummy cell, Penn's heart pounding faster as he wrapped his hands around his hook and grasped the few remaining beads he had left.

Finally, Sashi returned. The smile on Penn's face disappeared as he saw the look of panic and mild horror on hers.

“He's gone!” She said as she handed over a map she had stolen. “I checked his old cell, and found a memo—they're keeping him in the throne room.”

Penn frowned. “Rescuing Boone's gonna be a lot harder than I thought it would be, then...” He said as he read the map. Sashi anxiously waited beside him, wary for any noises from the hall nearby.

“You've been to the Vizier's quarters yet?”

“No Master, but I do know where it is.” Sashi replied carefully.

“Good.” Penn said as he pocketed the map. “We're splitting up again—you go find any evidence you can against Rippen, I'm going to the throne room to save Boone. We'll meet up again by the throne room, wherever Rippen's going to pull off the coup, or worst case scenario, back in jail, depending on how stealthily I can pull this off.”

Sashi opened her mouth, her eyes flashing gold.

“Please.” Penn quickly added.

Sashi gritted her teeth as the brand on her back started glowing again. After she escorted him to yet another secret passage—Via Solaris had no shortage of them—they went their separate ways once more.

* * *

The hall leading to the throne room was wide and open, rows of large windows on either side, thick beams in the ceiling which someone agile and light on their feet could use to easily traverse the length of it unseen, hidden by the shadows and unheard for the distance. There were many potential points of entry and exit, ones a thief or an assassin could use to gain entry to the palace or duck out of sight, a security flaw that really wasn't as Penn's eyes fell on the one and only guard.

The doors they stood in front of were massive. They were just as large, blocking most of the elaborately carved and lavishly decorated wood with their body alone, let alone the armour they wore. It wasn't plate mail of medieval legend but rather a hybrid of complex machines, enchanted metal, and thick bones and animal hides, an intricate weave that granted its wearer unparalleled protection, a menacing aura, and Penn had to assume, no shortage of stopping power for any would be intruders.

He frowned as he hopped the last beam, putting himself just above the giant. The mask on their face would probably protect them from the gut-lurching stenches of his noxious beads, and it'd probably take a small handful of the other bullets to take them down—an approach that wasn't possible, wasn't stealthy and subtle, and wasn't very heroic, especially because there was no telling how tough the guard inside the armour was, if it wasn't just a highly complex Solarian construct inside, or a demon that _was_ their equipment.

He thought of climbing out through the windows, try to find some other avenue of entry, when he noticed a very minor, almost unseen flaw in the guard's armour. It wouldn't matter in most battles or situations, as it was just edge of the cottony underwear the guard wore sticking out of the space between solid chest armour and their leg plates.

Fortunately, this wasn't most situations.

Penn prayed, aimed his hook, and fired—at the distance between them, the guard never heard the sound. The hook rocketed to the ground by its chain, before it suddenly stopped just under the bunch of exposed underwear.

“Hmm?” The guard turned around to sound of quietly clanking metal behind them. Penn quickly swung his hook into the fabric, and pressed the button to retract it. The hook latched on to the guard's underwear, and took it with it as it rocketed back up to the ceiling.

Whatever the guard was under that armour, the agony of a mechanically assisted atomic wedgie seemed universal.

The guard let out a pained, choked noise, before they crumpled to the floor. Penn took the opportunity to drop from the ceiling, slowing his fall by latching the hook onto the thick beams on the ceiling. “Sorry, nothing personal.” He said as he landed on their back.

Penn turned to the door, put on his best heroic look, and loaded his crossbow with all his remaining ammo. His plan was to shoot another noxious haze down just as he rushed in, disabling the guards by the door, rescue Boone, then leave through either the same path or out the windows, then hide in one of the hidden passages, pray no one would use the same one as them, and wait for Sashi.

He pressed the doors open by an inch. They suddenly flew wide open and for the second time that day, Penn found himself surrounded by numerous sharp objects from every direction. He slowly, carefully handed over his weapons, then raised his hands into the air.

From somewhere unseen, Rippen laughed. “Told you so, your majesty! These heroic types never could resist falling right into a trap.” Penn could feel him grin as the guards bound his hands together.

“That they can't!” A feminine voice replied. “I'm positively _delighted_ that the situation never seems to get any less tense or exciting, however!”

Penn now helpless to do anything but glare or beg for mercy, the guards broke away, returning to their posts or down halls and paths in the sides, presumably to the barracks or to a break room that was out of sight. He took account of the situation as they escorted him further into the throne room at spear point.

The place was incredibly luxurious and vibrant, most of its richness and beauty from it being an indoor oasis with streams, trees, and even some birds hanging about in the branches or the far corners, with a raised, circular platform as its centerpiece; steps radiated all around it, while the four largest streams flowed into it and fed the pool underneath; and two trees bending down like arches at its sides completed the look.

The sultana sat at the very center of it on a luxurious pile of pillows, fine silks, and soft furs; she saw Penn and waved happily, smiling and beaming without the slightest hint of malice or anger. Boone was in a cage close by, reaching out between the bars to manipulate a hastily done model of what looked like some form of amusement park back home made out of random materials like utensils, incense sticks, and small trinkets; he gave Penn a look and a wave that said he was both happy to see him, and _really_ sorry that he had inadvertently led to his capture, too.

The part-time villains were on the other side. Larry was dressed in lush and elegant clothing, with a rather fancy hat on his head and his own smaller pile of luxurious pillows, while sitting beside him on a single velvet cushion was Rippen, whose clothes were much more simple and didn't even have a hat, just a purple scarf tied around his head.

“Oh, hi Penn!” Larry cried as he waved. “You're just in time—we need another opinion about what shape to make the sultana's pool in her new water park!”

“Though the project is for my people and their pleasure, but what's the point of being sultana if you can't even get a single pool done the way you want it, yes?” The sultana added.

“So far, the debate's been about making it a geometric shape and having some cool designs at the sides, or the center, or just sculpted into the shape of something like a fruit or a symbol.” Boone continued.

“We've all decided that making it in the shape of her face is out of the question though!” Larry said. “Just so we're clear, it's because it's way too egotistic, not because her majesty's face wouldn't be a _beautiful_ addition to the park.”

The sultana grinned and laughed. “Ah, this exactly why you are my trusted vizier, dear friend.” She smiled.

Larry beamed.

Rippen groaned quietly. “Your majesty, if I may be so kind as to offer my humble opinion, I don't think it's wise to ask this _criminal_ for advice on your new project, nor is keeping him and his accomplice here instead of throwing them back into the dungeon, where they belong.”

“And _that_ is _exactly_ why you are my trusted Vizier's assistant, servant.” The sultana replied, still smiling.

Penn chuckled as he was put into a separate cage beside Boone. “Have you thought about making it in the shape of a number, your majesty?” He asked as the door was shut on him. “Maybe a zero with a slash through it?”

“Interesting, but what would the edges of the slash be, stranger?” The sultana asked back. “Shallow pools for swimmers to relax in? A solid path cutting straight through the middle?”

“I was thinking maybe a bridge, an overpass—ooh, and we can make it a fountain, too, put in sprinklers under it and make this huge wall of rain just constantly falling into the pool, then people can line up on top of it, and jump one by one into the water, too.”

The sultana nodded and beamed. “I love it. Keep going, stranger, you have my ear...”

Rippen ground his teeth.

Penn and Boone saw, and exchanged knowing looks.

Larry and the sultana just sat and eagerly awaited their next words.

* * *

Elsewhere in the palace, Sashi waited in the ceiling, hidden by shadows, and the patrol of guards roaming the halls below her none the wiser. When there was enough distance between them, she dropped down, her wings barely made a sound as they slowed down her fall, keeping her hooves from hitting the floor. With one more quick check around her, Sashi put her claw to the knob of the Vizier's quarters, carefully opened the door, and slid in, shutting it behind her without a sound.

Either the real Vizier was an extraordinarily messy, clumsy, and disorganized man for a high ranking public official, or someone else had their own suspicions about him. Drawers were pulled open, contents were dumped out and spilled all over every surface, and a number of the lavish furniture had been destroyed or ripped apart in case something was hiding behind a false wall, inside a mattress, or within the hollow of a fixture.

She was about to debate where to start her search when she felt a pair of gloved hands wrap around her neck.


	6. Chapter 6

The struggle was brief but brutal, a flurry of lightning fast kicks, punches, and strikes that ended up tearing the first few feet of the Vizier's quarters worse than the rest of the room had been. It was impossible to tell whoever had the advantage at any given moment—Fadilah armed with a suit of armour, gauntlets, and boots that'd almost perfectly mimic every advantage and power Sashi had, the two combatants were evenly matched.

The guards outside in the hall flew to the commotion, throwing open the door before jumping well out of the way as a hovering storm of violence and curses poured right on out, obliterating the wood, badly scarring the floors and the walls in the hall, and making a number of guards wish they'd been standing a step or two back than they were when stray hooves, boots, and claws made their way to guts, chins, and shins.

After what seemed like hours worth of ferocious combat—but was really only less than fifteen seconds of fighting—Sashi emerged the winner, pinning Fadilah's arms down onto the floor while her tail wrapped around her ankles and bound them together.

From the way both demon and mortal kept on struggling and grunting, however, it was clear it was only the first round of many for the night.

“So we meet again, demon...” Fadilah said calmly.

“The name is _Sashi.”_ Sashi spat back.

The violence erupted again. Guards yelped and surrounded the two combatants, hurriedly shuffling their feet to try and keep up with them as they fought and tore a path of destruction wherever they went. Those who held out spears used them more as yardsticks than weapons, helping everyone gauge how far from the chaos was safe.

New holes in the wall were punched clean through, deep gouges littered the floors, and a priceless rug was ruined before the two of them stopped once more, this time with Fadilah pinning Sashi down with a knee to her back, holding her hooves down, and her tail wrapping around her neck.

“Then you may call me Fadilah; I find it's a great pleasure for my enemies to know who to curse when I put them back in jail again.”

“… So says the guard that just broke into the vizier's quarters...!” Sashi choked.

Fadilah chuckled. “I am justified in my actions if it was to prevent a much more dire crime from being enacted...”

Sashi's eyes widened.

Of what happened next, the witnesses could only say that Sashi brought her hoof to Fadilah's face, her artificial tail loosened for a moment, then everything was a blur of movement, grunting, and screaming before the two broke off and started circling each other, hooves and booted feet thudding ominously on the scarred and battered floors.

“You found the evidence...” Sashi growled under her breath.

“With thanks to the clues you, your master, and your wizard friend unwittingly gave me,” Fadilah replied just as quietly. “I'll mention you three to the sultana when I turn it in to her—maybe it'll help get you all a reduced sentence.”

“ _Not if I give it to her first!”_

Their wings primed and blasted them towards each other again and again. They clashed in the center with brilliant flashes of claws and enchanted steel, the sounds of their battle echoing down the halls and through the labyrinths outside. Fadilah's fellow guards broke away their moving wall, retreating to the safety of the sides and cover after one decapitated spear, a bisected shield, and an accidental depantsing too many.

On one side of the hall, Sashi dug her hooves into the floor, carving a deep ditch in the ground as she slid to a halt. On the other, Fadilah slammed her gloves into the walls around the windows, before she went flying out and away. The two combatants panted, both their bodies and armour heavily scarred and scratched, sweat pouring down their faces, but their eyes still burning with rage, Sashi's an ominous blood-gold, Fadilah's an intense amethyst.

“Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” Fadilah asked in-between breaths.

“The sultana's doomed if we keep on fighting like this?” Sashi offered.

“Exactly.” Fadilah replied as she stepped back into the hall. “Tell you what: since we're obviously evenly matched in combat, how about a race, instead? The first one to get to the throne room takes credit for the evidence. No using secret passages, only the regular halls; no diving out the windows and taking shortcuts through the labyrinths, only staying on the chosen path; and the both of us are free to use whatever tactics we see fit to slow down or impede the other.

“Sound good?” Fadilah extended her hand.

Sashi smirked as she step forward and took it. “Deal.”

They shook for a few moments and broke away.

“Map!” Fadilah cried. “And get me some water, too!”

The others guards came out of cover and the sides and quickly got to work.

“You know, for a captain of the guard, I'd expect you to want to want the sultana to know about this plot more than you being the one to tell her about it.” Sashi mused.

Fadilah scowled. “Via Solaris is a very large, very complex, and _very_ active city where a _lot_ of bad things can and do happen on a daily basis; getting a position as a guard is easy—keeping it is another question entirely, so its understandable that we sometimes enact some measures to ensure that we stay on her majesty's good side.” A guard handed her a map and a pen, she started drawing a line down a series of halls all ending at the throne room. She handed it to Sashi, and another guard gave her a water jug.

“The perks and the pay that good?” Sashi asked as she studied their route.

“It's more than just the material rewards, Sashi.” Fadilah said quietly as she poured half of the water on her head and drank the rest.

The guards quickly copied the map and set to work, drawing a starting line in the hall, painting signs on the wall to mark the path, and warning those that were still out that it might be better to take a different route tonight or stay inside.

Sashi and Fadilah crouched down behind the line, a guard stood well to the side with a scrap of ruined carpet on a spear as a crude flag.

“Good luck, Sashi—you're going to need it.” Fadilah said as she primed her artificial wings.

Sashi chuckled. “You too, Fadilah—only you're going to need it _more.”_

“Challengers ready?” Both tensed. “On 'Go!' 3! 2! 1! GO!”

The flag waved twice, before the guard dropped the spear and ducked for cover.

Sashi blasted off, leaving a tiny sonic boom in her wake, zipping down the hall at blazing speed—before an excruciating, sharp pain rocketed up her back; her whole body was pulled back; and her face met the floor with a resounding THUD. Above her, Fadilah calmly let go of her tail, put her boot off the back of Sashi's head.

She smirked at her as she offered her her hand once again.

Sashi looked up from the new crater in the floor and scowled. “Okay, I'll admit, that was pretty good...” She said as she let Fadilah help her up.

“I didn't get to this position by virtue of my name, favours, and connections alone, Sashi.” Fadilah said.

The two of them lined up again, before blasting down the halls once more.

* * *

“What about the concession stands, your highness?” Boone offered.

The sultana waved him off. “The market will be the judge of that.”

“How about another extension?” Penn continued. “Maybe one for the future?”

“I'm afraid the budget is set in stone, travelers, my people's leisure is not my only concern nor the only thing the royal treasury is used for. Besides, who knows what those building materials might be better and easier used for if they remained in their raw forms?”

“Maybe we can plan what paintings to hang in the bathrooms...?” Boone offered lamely.

The sultana smiled. “An amusing thought! But no, I'm afraid I've gotten all the advice I can of you two for my new water park; as thanks, I will send you two back to the dungeons after my trip to my _other_ throne room.” She chuckled and got up from her cushions. “Guards?”

Penn and Boone watched in subdued horror as her majesty bounced off to a discrete passage in the corner in the company of two guards, while Rippen grinned the entire time.

“So I see you find yourselves unable to buy as much time as you'd like,” he said calmly.

Penn glared at him. “Doesn't matter! We'll just think up of a new plan and a new way to save the sultana, won't we Boone?”

“Yeah! Wait, we will?”

“Boone!”

“Sorry, man, it's just usually we're either still free or Sashi's trapped with us when we pull off the daring plan C's...”

“Pull off Plan C, D, E, all the way to the end of the alphabet all you want!” Rippen spat. “It's not going to matter once I pull off my next plan—a simple suggestion to the sultana to retire early this night, send you two back to the dungeons, where you'll be trapped behind bars and much, much, _much_ too far away to help her...” He chuckled menacingly.

“Before the stroke of the midnight hour, Via Solaris shall be _mine.”_

“Actually, it won't!” Larry said.

Rippen turned to him. “Say what now?”

“Yeah, our political conspirators and turncoats aren't gonna start the coup until midnight exactly. Turns out even _they_ have unions in Via Solaris.”

Penn and Boone smiled.

“There used to be a loophole that'd totally let us start it earlier than the contract said, but I told them about it and they got it fixed, so now it's all better—I even get 20% off the next political uprising I outsource to them!” Larry beamed.

Rippen put the palm of his hand to his face, then shook his head.

“You know, Sashi's already looking for evidence on you right now, if she isn't on her way her right now to expose you two right in front of the sultana, Ole Rip,” Penn said as he relaxed on the back bars of his cage. “So I guess it's game, set, and match as usual, eh?”

Rippen ground his teeth, before he stopped, realization dawning on him. “… Unless, said evidence can be proved to be a fraud, and why _wouldn't_ the sultana be suspicious of it—it's coming from the loyal slave of a _criminal_ wanted for disrupting the peace and injuring a number of guards, someone who'll do every little underhanded thing to try and free her precious master and his friend...” He grinned.

“Unless, we can totally defend her in a fair trial!” Boone shot back. “They have those in Via Solaris, don't they?” He asked, his serious expression disappearing.

“Yep! They do!” Larry said.

Boone put his game face back on and glared at Rippen.

“Which you _can't_ do if you're stuck in prison, and it'd be so much easier and faster for her most loyal, most _trusted_ vizier to make the decision for her.” Rippen leered.

Penn was about to shoot back when he noticed the sultana was coming back. Hero and villain alike made like not much had happened at all, greeting and bowing to her majesty as she plunked her rear back on her cushions.

“And hello again to you, my servants, good friend, and strangers/criminals!” The sultana said as she sank back into their luxurious softness. “Did I miss anything?”

“Nothing much, your majesty!” Larry replied. “Just making small talk with the prisoners here.”

The sultana smiled and nodded serenely. “Speaking of which: I was just about to send you two back to the dungeons, wasn't I?”

“That you were, your majesty!” Rippen said. “And just in time, too...” He grumbled.

The heroes got on their knees. “Please, your majesty, we beg of you, don't send us back to the dungeons!” Penn said.

“Yeah, it's really dark there, it's impossible to get comfortable on the seats there, and it's not nearly as nice as your throne room! Which is super awesome, by the way.”

“I hear your pleas; I appreciate the compliment, and will pass it on to the designers; but I'm afraid there really is no more reason to keep you two here—unless you two can give me a reason to?” The sultana looked at them expectantly.

“We got stories!” Boone blurted.

“Yeah… lots of stories!” Penn said, a smile growing on his face and inspiration flashing in his mind. “Me, my wizard buddy here, and my… uh… succubus slave have been adventuring together for a few months now, and boy, have we done a lot of things in that time!”

The sultana clapped her hands and reclined back on her cushions. “Excellent answer! I do so love stories—Via Solaris doesn't want from them, but those from outside the city always tend to have a style all their own, you know? Do tell: where have you three been, exactly?”

The smile on Penn's face disappeared. “Uh...” Rippen grinned, and inspiration struck again. His smile slowly returned. “Well, your majesty, I'll have to ask you a question first: would you believe that I'm not really the man you see before you right now, and neither is my partner—and that your loyal vizier and his assistant are actually _impostors_?”

The sultana's eyes darted to Larry and Rippen, more astounded than worried. “Hmm… that is a _very_ big claim to ask me to believe! I believe I will need more explanation, stranger.”

“No problem, your majesty: I've got time. You see, wherever good is threatened, heroes rise up to the challenge and always save the day! … Except when they don't. And that's where I come in—and Boone here, and Sashi...”

* * *

Elsewhere in the palace, Sashi and Fadilah were still racing down the halls, causing a more greatly spaced but still expensive and terrifying trail of destruction, annihilating numerous formerly priceless paintings, tapestries, and other decorations that were unlucky enough to be within their path.

The guards thought it might have been prudent of them to start storing and taking down the art, but with the unpredictable nature of their frequent and constant clashes and how fast they could disappear down the hall, they decided not to risk getting in their way while they tried to save a golden bust—it wasn't like the city lacked for many others just like it, anyway.

“Why do you fight so hard for your master, Sashi?!” Fadilah yelled as she took Sashi down in mid-air, sending them both sliding on the floor. “He's just a mortal man, and a nameless wanderer at that!”

A row of decorative jars broke in successively higher and higher pitch, and a banquet tables legs snapped almost all at once. The now unsupported slab of wood hung in the air for a few seconds, before it crashed to the ground with a loud WHUMPH!

Sashi pushed herself up from the floor and reversed their positions, Fadilah now sliding on her back till they hit the wall and they came to a stop in a crater. She blasted off Fadilah, slamming her hooves in her stomach to keep her down.

“His name is _Penn,_ and he's a **HERO** **!”**

Sashi brought her claws up to Fadilah's throat, she just barely stopped the razor sharp tips from reaching her neck.

“I _love_ him, he loves me _back!”_

The two of them struggled with each other, Fadilah pushing back only for Sashi to shove right back.

“And frankly, the sex we have is _amazing!_ _”_

With one powerful surge, Sashi pushed her claws up till they less than an inch away from Fadilah's skin.

“When was the last time _you_ got laid, huh?”

Though Fadilah was still struggling as hard as earlier, it was obvious something had changed.

The gold hue in Sashi's eyes disappeared. “Wait, _seriously?”_

Fadilah scowled at her, but it was obvious she wasn't giving it her all like earlier.

“… Sorry...”

Fadilah kicked her off, grabbed Sashi by the shoulders, and sent them flying down the hall and to a row of windows. “My loyalties are not so easily bought by pleasures of the _flesh!_ _”_ She screamed.

CRASH!

Concrete chunks rained down to the labyrinth below as Fadilah pinned Sashi down on the window sill, both their upper bodies leaning out to the night air.

“… _But_ if they were... what of the wizard…?” Fadilah asked quietly.

Sashi frowned.

Worry came over Fadilah's face. “Is he spoken for? Trees over flowers? Sworn to celibacy?” She asked quickly.

Sashi shook her head as much as she could. “It's not that: I don't think _anyone_ is his thing, with like, one or two exceptions.”

Fadilah sighed. “Figures.” She pulled them back into the hall, letting Sashi back on her hooves while she landed just across her. “My point still stands, however: _I_ stand to keep the glory of my position, the favour of the sultana, and the privilege of looking out over a peaceful, happy, unfettered city and know that I had a part in making it so.

“ _You_ stand to keep the glory of being a demon sex slave, the favour of a no-name adventurer, and the privilege of being his sexual plaything whenever he pleases.

“I will admit I do not truly know you, Sashi, but it seems like I have the greater reason to win this.”

Sashi chuckled. “If only you knew how much I want that...”

The two of them blasted down the halls again.

Elsewhere in Via Solaris, a massive bell was rung ten times, letting everyone know it was two hours till midnight.


	7. Chapter 7

“… Then bag of weed killer explodes—WUMPH! And where does all that powdery nastiness go? Why, straight back up to Rippen, of course!” Boone said with a grin.

On her cushions, the sultana laughed and clapped. In his cage, Penn grinned, made a finger gun, and casually blew on the “barrel.” Around them, the guards who'd come closer grinned, cheered, or applauded right with them.

On his cushion, Rippen ground his teeth to dust, and tried to ignore Larry's clapping and laughing along with everyone else.

“He takes a breath at the wrong time—which, when I think about it, he can't really control because he was a tree then and they don't really have lungs, they've got this thing chlorophyll and stuff—but anyway, his leaves all fall off; Big Red turns into Big, Pale, and Green; and it's 'TIMBERRR!' as he falls off the water tower and straight to yet another _brutal, humiliating_ defeat.

“Plantywood's water supply safe from contamination, Penn and Sashi activate the pumps, giving the city a nice, refreshing sprinkling, the perfect way to cap off yet another victorious mission.

“It could have been the first victory Rippen's ever gotten against us, but thanks to Sashi's, quick, pragmatic thinking, and Penn realizing all the extremely complicated and convoluted plans weren't such a good idea in this dimension, Good won—again, and as it always will.” Boone smiled and bowed.

Everyone except Rippen erupted into another bout of applause and cheering, while several servants moved in and refreshed the food and drink in Penn and Boone's cages, or fluffed up the cushions that now padded them.

“Man, these stories from these otherworlders are really entertaining!” One of the guards said.

“I'll say! Someone could make a real fortune, acting them out again here in Via Solaris.” A second continued.

“Yeah...” A third said. “They could… hey, anyone been writing any of this down?”

“If not, someone please do! In the meantime, another story, strangers, another story!” The sultana cried, grinning and bouncing eagerly in her seat.

“Yeah, yeah, another story, another story!” Larry said as he bounced alongside her. “These are _so_ good, even if I already know what's gonna happen!”

Penn and Boone happily basked in the praise and their enthusiasm, drinking and eating while they thought up of which adventure to tell them next. Rippen sighed and shook his head, looking away from the audience delighting in the retelling of his numerous defeats and humiliations at the hands of Penn and his friends.

His eyes just happened to fall on an accessory he never noticed he'd zapped in with: timekeeping device on his wrist. He still couldn't read the etchings, but the arrangement and the positions of the hands were familiar enough for him to know that it was getting close to midnight—about fifteen minutes, actually.

His eyes flicked back to Penn and Boone, and saw that the two of them had happened to busy with a long drink of sweet juice and a sticky candy. An idea flashed through his mind, and he didn't hesitate to act on it.

“Your excellency,” he said, “the hour grows late, and if I may remind her, she still has duties to attend to in the morning. Won't it be prudent for our beloved sultana to retire, get some rest in preparation for the morrow?”

The sultana looked at him, and frowned. “Is it getting close to midnight already?”

Penn and Boone's eyes grew wide.

Rippen proudly held up the face of his watch. The guards who had similar devices confirmed it, holding them out by chains, showing off their own wrists, and one's even sang the time.

The sultana sighed. “Ah, as much it pains me to say it, it appears there will be no more stories for tonight.”

Penn choked on his drink while Boone struggled speak through the gooey mess in his mouth. “Wait, your majesty!” Penn cried as he hurriedly wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “We have _lots_ of great stories to tell you still! I promise they're _just_ as exciting if not more so than the ones earlier, and we're not going to run out for a _good_ long time!”

Jaws firmly clamped shut by sweet goop, Boone could only nod and make affirmative sounding noises.

The sultana brightened up, as did the heroes. “A very tempting offer! But no.” The boys' faces fell. “The Vizier's assistant is right: it would be best if I retire and get some rest, I still have plenty of important duties to my city and my people in the morn. Besides, there will be tomorrow evening to regale me with your tales, yes?” The sultana smiled, but the boys did not.

Rippen grinned, casting Penn and Boone smug looks. Penn looked at him and scowled, his features turning serious. “One more story!” Penn cried. “One more story, your majesty, that's all I ask of you.”

Rippen looked at the sultana and quickly, rapidly shook his head. She looked at Larry, who was about to nod before Rippen quickly grabbed his face and shook his head for him. The sultana turned back to Penn, and gave him an apologetic smile.

“If it helps, I can summon a scribe to get your tales down while they are still fresh?” She offered.

Penn sighed, his shoulders dropping. “No thank you, your majesty; good night.”

The sultana smiled as she stood up from her cushions. “And good ni--”

SLAM!

The throne room's doors slammed open. The guards there sprang to attention, readying their weapons until they saw who were standing in the doorway: Sashi, proudly holding a sealed scroll in her hands, naked from the waist down, and on the floor behind her, Fadilah dejectedly holding her missing panties.

“Stand down...” Fadilah mumbled.

The guards awkwardly lowered their weapons, unsure of what to make of the turn of events or the bottomless succubus in their midst.

The sultana sat back down on her cushions. “The stranger's slave appears in my throne room, unsummoned! And half-naked, too—very amusing.” She purred, pleased.

“Good evening, your majesty,” Sashi said as she flew across the room till she was beside Penn's cage. “I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?” She asked as she bowed.

“We had actually just cut short your master and the wizard here regaling me stories of your adventures in other dimensions—or should I say, your hero and your wiseman, sidekick?” The sultana said, smiling.

Sashi gave Penn and Boone surprised, impressed looks before she held up the scroll. “How about one more from me, your majesty? I promise it'll be worth your while—it's all about how your loyal vizier's planning to overthrow you.” She grinned.

The sultana raised an eyebrow at Larry and the now paler-than-usual Rippen, then smiled at Sashi. “I've changed my mind, the land of slumber can wait for me yet. Please, regale me this tale, and do not skip _any_ of the details.”

“Your majesty, I _highly_ object to this decision!” Rippen spluttered. “Who knows what could be _in_ that scroll? Or if the criminal just hadn't gotten one of the many forgers in the city to copy your loyal vizier's writing?”

Sashi casually broke the seal and unfurled it in front of the sultana. She leaned out of her seat and peered at the script. “Hmm… this seems more like _your_ handwriting, servant… tell you what: how about I reserve any and all decisions until _after_ I've been told this entire story, start to finish, and you sit there quietly until I do?”

Rippen opened his mouth to protest, before closing it. He turned to Larry, a hopeful look in his eyes.

“Oh, and dear friend, my most loyal vizier? I'll do without your advice this time, thank you.” The sultana continued.

“Okey-dokey, your majesty!” Larry replied.

The hope died as quickly as it appeared. Rippen sighed as two guards casually positioned themselves close behind him.

Over at the hero's side, Sashi cleared her throat and prepared to read the scroll. She stopped as she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.

“I believe this is yours.” Fadilah said flatly as she handed over Sashi's missing panties.

Sashi casually took them back with her free claw. “Thanks.”

Fadilah turned around and prepared to march back to her office.

“Wait, Fadilah!” Sashi cried. She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Actually, why don't you tell the sultana all about this?” She held up the scroll. “After all, _you_ were the one who found it in the first place.” She smiled.

Fadilah blinked, before smiling back. She happily marched back to Sashi, took the scroll from her hands, and stood proudly before the sultana.

“Before I begin, your majesty, I must confess I and the rest of my guards have made a terrible mistake in thinking that these so called 'criminals' had ever sought to intentionally cause trouble in our city or endanger your safety—in fact, it was quite the opposite. The ruckus of earlier today was less an act of avoiding authority, and more of self-defense, but even still, I do believe these three should be released without more than a fine to help pay for the damages and the distress they've caused...”

As Fadilah spoke, Sashi quietly flung her panties into Penn's lap. He blushed and flinched, she just smiled and kept on looking at the sultana and her guard. Boone noticed, and quietly gave him a thumbs up before quietly chuckling to himself.

A little less than half-past midnight, they all zapped out.

* * *

The three heroes floated back into the Oydssey, the panels sliding back over the portal as soon as they were down, the rest of the machinery powering down until tomorrow afternoon. They all had smiles on their faces, none bigger than Boone's.

“So, I see I was right about you two!” He said as they stepped off the platform.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sashi said, rolling her eyes, “you're the love expert, you can totally see it when you see it, and neither of us could for _months_ , go you. You're lucky I'm still in a pretty good mood right now, or I'd be a _lot_ less willing to put up with this.”

Boone raised his arms in mock surrender. “Hey, we're all friends here! Besides, I only wanted to wish you guys congratulations for finally hooking up, and try not to launch into too many spontaneous make-out sessions, alright?” He pointed a finger gun at them as he picked his bag back up and left the Odyssey.

Sashi blushed and scowled, and would have glared at Boone if she wasn't suddenly so focused on the ratty old theater seats. “Will do, Boone!” Penn said as he walked up beside her and put a calming hand on her shoulder.

“I _will_ hit him the next time he does jokes about us and every time after that, so don't even tell me to _try_ to get used to it.” Sashi growled.

“I won't!” Penn said. “I was just going to...” His voice trailed off.

Sashi looked at him curiously, before she followed his eyes.

Up in the catwalks, Phyllis looked down at them with a more unamused expression than usual.

The two instinctively stepped away from each other. “Hey there, Phyllis!” Penn waved awkwardly. “You wouldn't happen to have seen anything we might have, you know--”

“Yes.” Phyllis replied flatly. “Saw _everything._ Was like having acid poured on eyes while hot needles carve images into brain, and Most Terrible Songs of the Multiverse plays right in ear. Would like very much to forget, but can't.

Sashi burned completely red. Penn's face fell in a mix of horror and full, encompassing mortification.

“Do not worry—have programmed censors to block out horrible images and noises in case two make like horny teenagers again.” Phyllis pulled out a remote. “If want comparison, can watch it agai--”

“NO!”

Sashi and Penn grabbed their bags and fled from the Odyssey as quickly as they could, stopping only as they got out of the doors and into the quiet, peaceful street outside. They stayed there a while, cheeks burning red, panting, and letting the full extent of the horror and embarrassment sink in.

“Oh my god, that has got to be one of the most embarrassing moments of my entire life...” Sashi mumbled as she stared firmly at the ground.

“Yeah...” Penn mumbled. “But hey, look on the bright side: we now have our first embarrassing sex story as a couple, right?” He smiled.

Sashi glared at him, and it quickly disappeared. Penn quietly looked away and studied one of the rotting panels in the Odyssey's awning instead.

“… Hey Sash?” Penn asked.

“What?”

“I just remembered something,” Penn said as he looked back at her. “”Back in the dimension, I did promise you that we'd… you know… after the mission, right?”

Sashi blushed. “Yeah, you did.”

“… So…?”

“Depends: your uncle and aunt home, and is the chinchilla gonna be there?” Sashi asked seriously.

“Uh, yeah. Your parents?”

“Both there, alongside my brother.”

Penn frowned. “So I guess it's gonna be a _lot_ later, then.”

“Or we could change it: I wouldn't mind dinner and a movie...” Sashi offered.

Penn smiled. “How's this Friday at 7 sound? I know a great pseudo-Italian place.”

Sashi smiled back. “I'd like that.” She turned around and left for the bus stop. “See you tomorrow at school, Penn, and don't you _dare_ forget Friday, alright?”

“I won't!” Penn replied. “Oh, wait, Sash! I just remembered another thing!”

Sashi stopped and turned around to ask him what it was, and quickly found herself pulled up into a kiss. Her eyes widened in shock, before she quickly relaxed, arms wrapping around Penn's waist. He pulled away much too soon for her liking, casually putting her down and gently prying her arms off him.

“See you, Sash;” Penn said softly. “I got a date with the back of my closet, and a bow tie to find.”

Sashi huffed. “You show up to my place wearing that, it's coming off before you get me out of that door.”

“Or I can do something to convince you to let me keep it on...” Penn waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Sashi turned red and pushed him away. “Just go home already! I'm going to miss the bus, and we're turning into a stupid cheesy romcom scene out here!”

Penn gave her one last salute before finally setting off for home.

Sashi turned her back to him, and walked off to the bus stop with a huge grin on her face.

* * *

“Later” turned out to be a couple of months. Between the lack of complete privacy that two mostly broke teenagers could get with very involved and active parents/relatives, or a nosy little brother who delighted in ambushing them when they thought they had the place to themselves, it was very hard to do anything further than making out and some light touching.

The Multiverse had been just as accommodating—they weren't in the mood, the mission was a far bigger priority, or for whatever reason, they just couldn't get intimate (or oftentimes, figure out how). Crises in Via Solaris rarely escalated to the level of needing a part-timer, or a different team was needed that day than them, too.

There were also times when they'd much rather use a perfectly good opportunity to stay in playing videogames, just watching a movie without the fooling around, or lazing about in each others' company, half-naked for comfort more than any plans to do anything sexual.

Then, there was one night where the stars aligned, Sashi's parents were due to take George to an event that'd leave them the entire apartment to themselves and little less than four hours of complete, assured alone time, and suddenly it was like that night back in the pillow warehouse.

The TV marathon continued on in the living room without them; the snacks and soda stayed on the coffee table, half-eaten and forgotten; and Penn and Sashi found that they couldn't dash into her room, lock the door, and fall on her bed fast enough.

They kissed each other hungrily, lips parting, tongues tangling, both pushing and pulling, trying to get as much of a taste of the other before they got booted back into their own mouth it was their turn to get explored for the next few seconds or so. All the while, their hands roamed each other, touching each other in ways that sent shivers up the others spines, ways that elicited all manner of delightful noises, ways that reminded them that yes, they were here, and yes, this wasn't a dream, this was all blissfully, wonderfully _real._

There wasn't any succubus magic acting on them that night, no enchanted saliva, no primal hunger for human life force, no supernaturally beautiful looks, but frankly? They didn't _need_ them.

They pulled away gasping, panting for breath, sweat pouring down their skin as their faces burned hot.

“Want to take this all the way, Master…?” Sashi purred.

“Oh, _please,_ yes.” Penn said.

She broke away from his grasp, clutching handfuls of his shirt in her hands as she pulled him up her bed till he was resting on the pillows at the head of it. Sashi looked up at him and grinned, the predatory, hungry look on her face exactly the same but for the lack of gold in her eyes, the glow of her bedside lamp making her look even more menacing and exciting than Via Solaris' moon could.

She didn't move down to his waist this time; instead, one hand reached up to the top of her vest, while the other spread out on the zero on Penn's shirt. They both started trailing down, one undoing buttons, opening Sashi's vest and shirt, the other making its way down past his stomach, past his belt, till it finally rested on his bulge.

Sashi shrugged off her clothes, exposing her well-toned muscles and her breasts, firmly snuggled in a plain white bra. She pushed her chest up, offering Penn a better view as her free hand reached behind and fiddled with the clasp.

Click. Sashi's bra fell off. She grinned up at Penn. “Still like 'em even without the piercings?”

Eyes firmly locked on them, Penn replied, “Yes.”

“I'm not getting ones here too, Master—but if it makes you feel any better, you can ask me to do anything you want tonight...~” Sashi purred.

She gave his erection a light squeeze through the fabric, and Penn came immediately.

If the sudden change in the heated, passionate atmosphere didn't tip her off, Sashi need only to see the look of horror, self-disgust, and disappointment coming over Penn's to know what happened. She let go of his erection and sat up beside him, the teasing look on her face gone and replaced with one that was trying very hard to look as sympathetic as she really, actually was.

It was completely silent in Sashi's room for a while; Sashi tried to look at Penn, but he couldn't meet her eyes.

“… I could still go down on you and eat you out?” Penn said as he carefully looked back at Sashi, a hopeful smile on his face.

Sashi wrinkled her nose. “Ugh, sorry, Master, but I'll have to pass; I get off _me_ going down on _you,_ not the other way around.”

Penn frowned. “I'm sorry I ruined our 'first' first time, then, Sash...”

Sashi smiled warmly at him as she put her hands on his shoulders and nuzzled against him. “I don't mind, Master—honestly.”

Penn blushed and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her. “Really? Because things were pretty _super_ heated back there and now they're _not_ _...”_

Sashi pulled away and shot him a look. “Would I be still with you, half-naked in my bed if I were in it only for sex? It's _you_ I want, dummy—the sex is just a bonus.” She purred as she buried her face back into his neck.

“I love you, Master.”

Penn smiled. “I love you too, Sash.”

Sashi soon fell asleep in Penn's arms, a lazy smile on her face. He smiled and held her close, enjoying the feeling of her warmth and her body on him, and the sounds of her peaceful breathing, and the two of them just being alone together.

If he'd asked if he could change out of his underwear sooner, the moment would have been perfect, but he wasn't complaining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's done! Afraid I won't be doing any new Penashi Smut fics in the future, it's a little too far out both my comfort zone and the interests and turn ons of that part of my brain.
> 
> To those of you who want it, I apologize, it seems I'm not going to be that author.
> 
> To the people that have bared with me for this entire project, thank you for reading.


End file.
